A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon & Cant, Vol. 1

About — Above.

our dictionaries from the English manufactured in the United States.-Evening Standard.

When Eagle Davis died,

I was sittin' by his side, 'Twas in Boston, Massachusetts, and he said to me, “Old boy!

This climate as you see

Isn't just the size for me ; Dead or livin', take me back if you can to Ellanoy."

-A Ballad: In the Wrong Box. “Do you take this woman, whose hand you're a-squeezin', to be your lawful wife, in flush times an' skimp ?"

“I reckon that's about the size of it, squire."-Chicago Ledger.

About East (American). A term

used by men coming from the New England, i.e., the eastern and purely Yankee States, to signify anything that meets with approval. Such things or people are said to be about East. J. Russell Lowell in his “Letters” well illustrates this colloquialism of men who regard everything done in their native states as right and whose eyes are often turned to the old home amidst the roughing and struggle of the wilder West.

There was not a Yankee when Horace Mann regretted we had not the French word s'orienter in our speech,“ whose problem has not always been to find out what is about East. The enthusiastic (though quaintly exaggerated) love borne the East by its sons is, perhaps, most strikingly illustrated in Major Jack Dow. ning's oft-repeated phrase, I'd go East of sunrise any day to see sich a place.'".

Above one's bend (American),

beyond one's capacity.

It would be above my bend to attempt telling you all we saw among the Red. skins.-). T. Cooper: The Oak Openings.

In the South the phrase to sig.
nify the same idea is “above
my huckle-berry," or "a huckle-
berry above my persimmon.”
Bend in this sense is probably
derived from the Anglo-Saxon
bend, signifying a bond or any.
thing that binds—a contract.

For ich am comen hider to-day,
For to saven hem, yive y may,
And bring hem out of bende.

-Anns and Amiloun, I. 1233.

About right (vulgarism). To do

a thing about right is to do it thoroughly.

“ Above my bend” is "more than I am bound or held to do” -a Saxon idiom.

About the size of it (American).

An expression indicating an average, or estimate, or expression of value, or an equiva. lent, in a very wide sense. “Do you think that on the whole our Phebe would marry Seth ?"

“Wall-I guess that on the whole that's about the size of it. She don't know her own mind yet, but she will when she comes to take the measure on't."-Ameri. can Story.

Above par, below par (popular).

To be above or below par signifies that the person using the expression is in better or worse health than usual. It is derived from the commercial term which refers to the price of stock, in that case the meaning being “average” or “level.” Above par signifies also tolerably drunk; possessed of money beyond one's actual expense.

Abracadabra—Abraham.

districts of the North of England called Abraham's stone; a piece of this stone is worn by the lower classes round their necks as a charm against ague, thus following the tradition that Abraham wore a precious stone round his neck to preserve him from disease; when Abraham died, God placed this stone in the sun.

Abracadabra (medical), applied

to any senseless gibberish or extravagant notion. Organic evolution has been stated to be the new abracadabra of science.

The French use the epithet abracadabrant, which is best rendered by “stunning" or "flabbergasting." Abracaulabra was a cabalistic word in the Middle Ages. It was written in successive lines in the form of an inverted triangle, each line being shorter by a letter than the one above, till the last letter A formed the apex of a triangle at the bottom. It was said to have magical power, and when hung around the neck it was supposed to act as a charm against ague. It is thought to be derived from the Hebrew ab, father, ruach, spirit, and dabar, word. According to this derivation it represents the Trinity.

Abraham cove (thieves), a mean,

beggarly, despised thief, or rather sneak. Decker writes in 1608 that “The Abraham cove is a lustie strong rogue who walketh with a slade about his guarrons" (a sheet about his body). The Hon. Justice Matsel, of New York, in the Rogue's Lexicon, registers Abraham cove “a naked or poor man; a beggar in rags" (Grove).

Abraham grains (thieves), a pub

lican who brews his own beer.

Abraham (popular), a cheap and

trashy slop shop.

Abraham's balsam or hempen

elixir (provincial), execution by hanging. So named from the hemp tree, a kind of willow, that is called Abraham's balm by botanists. By the gypsies it is called Father's balm, and it is used by them as a preservative of chastity. There is a peculiar stone in the marshy

Abraham-man or Abram-man

(ancient cant), a naked vagabond, a lame or sick beggar, a begging impostor. The Abraham ward in Bedlam had certain inmates who were allowed to go begging on behalf of the hospital, and were called Abraham-men, the term being applied subsequently to lame or sick beggars, or those shamming distress. The begging impostors designated as Abram-men were well known in the sixteenth century, and are mentioned in the “Fraternitie of mains as yet without any explanation or justification. To “sham Abraham" was to feign sickness or distress, and the term is used to the present day. THE “SHAM ABRAHAM" AGITATION. -Matters must have come to a pretty pass when even the Daily News withdraws its support from the Trafalgar Square impostors. --The Globe.

Abraham.

A popular song of the last century, when forgery of bank notes for one pound was a common crime, and when the hanging of the detected criminal was quite as frequent, has preserved for posterity the name of Abraham Newland, the then cashier of the Bank of England, who signed all the notes in circulation:

Vagabondes," 1575. “An Abraham-man is one that walketh bare-armed and bare-legged, and fayneth to be mad, calling himself Poor Tom." Abraham-men, in Stephen's “Essays and Characters," 1615, are designated as fugitive ragamuffins, pretending to be cripples or impotent soldiers. Harman thus describes them :

These Abraham-men be those that fayne themselves to haue beene mad; and haue beene kept eyther in Bethelem or some other pryson a good tyme, and not one amongst twenty that euer came in pryson for any such cause; yet wyll they saye howe pitiously and most extreamely they haue beene beaten and dealt with all.... These begge money.-Caveat or Waren. ing for Common Cursetors.

The old English dramatists use Abraham as a cant word for nakedness, in which sense it is still common among tramps, who say of a naked person, “He was dressed in Abraham's suit, a suit of everlasting flesh colour."

A tawny beard was termed an “Abraham-coloured beard,” probably in accordance with the directions for representing all the persons in Scripture as given in the “Byzantine Painters' Guide," the “Book of Ballymoti,” &c. In all of these the beards are specially described. A “Judas-coloured beard,” a word of similar import, was so called because Judas Iscariot was traditionally supposed to have had a red beard, and was so represented by early Italian painters. But the epithet of an Abraham - coloured beard re

Sham Abraham you may, But you must not sham Abraham Newland.

Sailors use the term to denote an idle fellow who wants to be put on the sick list so as to shirk duty. Workmen also use it, with the meaning “to pretend to be ill,” in order to get off work.

Abraham suit, on the, any kind

of dodge or deceit designed to excite sympathy, used by begging-letter impostors.

Abraham work (popular), ill-paid

trumpery work; trading shams; showy swindles.

Abraham's willing (rhyming

slang), a shilling.

Absquatulate—Abusive.

events in the world, even in America, where men are continually attempting it.

The various slang synonyms are “to skedaddle, to cut one's lucky, to sling one's hook, to mizzle, to bolt, to cut and run, to slip one's cable, to step it, to leg it, to tip the double, to amputate one's mahogany, to make or to take tracks, to hook it, to slope, to slip it, to paddle, to evaporate, to vamoose, to tip your rags a gallop, to walk one's chalks, to pike, to hop the twig, to turn it up, to cut the cable and run before the wind,” and in the lingo of the lightfingered and sure-footed gentry, “to make beef, to guy, to speel.” - Barrère : Argot and Slang.

The reverse of to “squat," from ab and squat, originally settlers slang for abandoning a location when fearing an unwelcome visitation, and settling on a more remote spot.

You'd thank me to absquatulate, as the Yankees say. ... Well, I will in a minute.-Rhoda Broughton : Cometh up as a Flower.

Bartlett calls this "a factitious vulgarism." It was in use nearly fifty years ago. At that time running away with money by bank presidents, &c., became very common in consequence of financial panics or collapses, and it was the fashion to coin words from the names of the delinquents, as “to Swartwout" or “to Schylerise," &c. When we reflect that there are many Yankee and Western men accustomed to spelling bees, and perhaps more familiar with the difficult words of the dictionary than are many scholars, it does not appear remarkable that we find in American slang a number of words which have a learned length and Latin sound. To any half-educated man with a fancy for extravagant ex. pression, and familiar with “abscond," "to squattle away,” and “perambulate,” absquatulate would readily suggest itself in an effort to recall one or the other. Once uttered and heard, it would become popular. To deliberately invent a new word, without some foregoing suggestion or basis, and get it adopted, is one of the rarest

Abusive drill, adjutant's drill.

The adjutant, being responsible for the drill of a regiment, has constant parades for instruction and practice, at which he may occasionally use strong language. He is especially concerned with the development of recruits, the perfecting of awkward squads, and of careless or inattentive soldiers sent back to drill as a punishment. A salutary change has no doubt come over the army, which was once proverbial for cursing and swear. ing. Even the highest ranks were addicted to it, as witness the old saying, “How we swore in Flanders," and the story in Greville's Memoirs of the Duke of Wellington and Lord Anglesea

at Waterloo. When the latter was wounded, he cried, “I've lost my leg, by G-d!” “Have you, by G-d!” replied the Duke. But language of correction and reproof is still likely to be strong, and may at times become“ abusive” when issuing from a much aggravated ad. jutant's mouth.

Academies, canting, the low lodg.

ings or public-houses for cadgers and tramps, lurkers, or the houses of call or country lodging-houses for beggars and im. postors who solicit alms by a written petition or forged sol. dier's or sailor's discharge.

discarded servants; as the subscriptions are enforced monthly on those in place, the funds are very large, and each academy keeps a staff of well - educated teachers who are well experienced in all the craft of trade, and well-appointed agencies are kept up in all the manufacturing towns, acting as references, and to give good written characters. A “gammoning academy” is a reformatory for juvenile cri. minals. Acceleration (vagrants). “He

died of acceleration," he died of

starvation. Accelerators, the union relieving

officers, from their frequent refusal to give food to the dying outcast, whose miserable career of want often ends in death. In such cases the jury invariably accompany their verdict of natural death with the rider, “ Accelerated through the want of the common necessaries of life.”

Academy (obsolete), an organisa

tion of thieves; a rendezvous for practising the flash art “dodge;" a goal; a brothel. Termed also “ flash-drum," “nanny - shop,” “buttockingshop," and in police-court reports, “disorderly house." Establishments where “good beds" are provided for couples are termed “houses of accommodation,” which correspond to the French “maisons de passe." Peter Pindar writes that "aca. demy is an euphemistic expression for a house that harbours courtezans." A“ character academy," a rendezvous for characterless shopmen, footmen, barmen, and others, whereat false characters are concocted, and other plans are matured for robbing employers. These places are chiefly alehouses kept by

Accommodated (thieves), sen

tenced to a term of imprisonment.

For practising on the flat, I was apprehended and was accommodated with a month's board and lodging at the expense of the nation.-Mayhew: London Labour and London Poor.

Accommodation houses (common), brothels. Their female frequenters are termed “Ladies of accommodating morals," being a trifle more genteel than their sisters, the street prostitutes.

According to the revised sta

tutes (American). Anything that is legal, or properly authorised or established. An expression first used in this general or humorous sense by a lawyer of New York named Halstead, in Vanity Fair, in 1860.

Account (nautical). Going upon account is a phrase for buccaneering.

(Sporting), to account for, refers to one's personal share in killing.

The persecuted animals (rats) bolted above ground; the terrier accounted for one, the keeper for another.– Thackeray: Vanity Fair.

According to Cocker (common),

proper, according to rule, ac cording to the best authority. This phrase refers to a famous writing-master of the name of Cocker, who in the time of Charles II. composed and published an elaborate Treatise on Arithmetic.

Professor De Morgan writes that the phrase as a popular saying originated in 1756, and was taken up by the people from Murphy's play of “The Apprentice," in which the strong point of the old merchant Wingate is his extreme reverence for Cocker and his Arithmetic. In America, a similar confirmation phrase is in common use, except that the name of Gunter is substituted for that of Cocker. Gunter was a famous arithmetician, and no doubt the American phrase is the oldest. According to John Norie is the standard of appeal among sailors. John Norie compiled a very popular work

Accounts (common). To cast up

accounts is to vomit, and in thieves' lingo it signifies to be. come evidence against an accomplice.

Accumulatives (American). At

times an editor in the United States will make a remark or a joke, then another will cite it and add a remark or a parody of it, which will again be commented on by a third. Thus one says:“William, familiarly known as “Bill' Sticker, was indicted last week in Lead. ville for passing counterfeit money. This 13

Accumulatives— Acquisitive.

is according to law, for he who runs may read in any street, ‘Bill Stickers will be prosecuted.'”

To which a rival adds: “We say amen to that. We were stuck yesterday ourself with a bad bill."

applied on the Trent to a kind of eddying twirl which occurs on the river when it is flooded. In the dialect of Craven, according to Wright, a ripple on the surface of the water is termed an acker.

And a third exclaims : “Suppose Sam Jones should put a bowie into Bill Sticker, who would be the Bill Sticker in that case? Let us reflect !"

We have seen as many as twenty and more of these accumulative paragraphs of this kind “going the rounds” of the country press.

Acknowledge the corn, to (Ame

rican). To admit that one has been got the better of, or is outdone.

It is said that an Illinois hoosier once came to New Orleans with two boats, one loaded with corn, the other with potatoes. He fell among gamblers, was made drunk, and “anted off" or lost both his boats. During the night there came a storm and the boat full of corn was sunk. In the morning the gamblers came to claim their stakes. The hoosier with great firmness replied, “Gentlemen, I acknowledge the corn, but the potatoes you shan't have -by thunder!"-American Newspaper. (Given more fully in Bartlett's Dictionary.)

Accumulator (racing), a person who backs one horse, and then if it wins results (sometimes in. cluding original stakes) goes on to some other horse.

Ace of Spades (old slang), a

widow, alluding to the hue of the card. This slang word is given in the “ Lexicon Balatronicum,” London 1811.

A-cock (popular), knocked over,

defeated; suddenly surprised, astounded.

He made a rush at me and sent me and my barrow all a-cock.—Thames Police Report, May 25, 1867.

Ack (Christ's Hospital). In the

slang of Blue Coat boys this word is expressive of denial or refusal.

Also, cocked up.

The small grey sprig on the crown of our pericranium and the thin grey tail acock behind. - Recreations of Christopher North.

Ack men or ack pirates (nautical),

fresh water thieves. Probably from a corruption of “ark," meaning boat, as the term “ark ruffs " has a like signification. Ack, however, seems to have some connection with the old term aker (apparently from the Anglo-Saxon egor, the flowing of the sea), which is still

Acorn (old cant), the gallows tree.

The acorn is planted for thee, my bonny boy.-Wilson's Tales of the Border.

Acquisitive (American), booty,

plunder.

Acquisitive—Adam.

The officers surprised them packing up the acquisitive. - The Man in Pos. session, by Leman Rede: Sunday Times.

An acquisitive cove, a man given to picking and stealing. Acreocracy (American), a coined

word to signify the landlord interest.

The introduction of a plutocracy amongst the aristocracy and the acreocracy, though it has tended somewhat to vulgarise our social institutions, has not been without its good effect. – Hallberger's Illustrated Magazine (1878).

Acting dickey (naval), an officer

acting as lieutenant although not confirmed by the Admiralty. (Legal), a clerk or agent acting in the name of a lawyer on the Rolls. The practice of acting dickey is generally resorted to

in questionable proceedings. Action (American), quick work,

an immediate result. Western card playing, &c., slang. “That's my kind,” says old Sam; “you get action there at every turn. No wait. ing for any darned cards to turn up."F. Francis: Saddle and Moccasin.

Actionize, to (legal), to cite before

a legal tribunal.

Acres (theatrical), a coward, from

the pusillanimous Bob Acres in Sheridan's play.

In Ireland “a regular acres man" meant a professed duellist. From “the fifteen acres," formerly a field famous for duels in Dublin. In India, Acre Farm, near Calcutta, is used for duels, hence “a regular acre's man."

Act of Parliament (old), small

beer. A military term referring to the fact that publicans were by Act of Parliament compelled to supply billeted soldiers with

five pints daily gratis. Actual (American), “the actual,"

money. As for happiness in this world without the rhino, the chink, or the actual, you might as soon think of winning a woman's affections in a raffle. - Dow's Sermons.

Ad., adver. (printer's), abbrevia.

tions for advertisement.

Across lots (American). “In the most expeditious manner” (as regards time), or (as regards distance) “by the shortest cut." “He may be said to have attained place and power across lots," i.e., with great rapidity. This phrase comes down to us from the old settlers' days, when the shortest road then, as indeed now, was across lots, and not by the main road. You would cut across the lot like a streak of lightning if you had a chance.-Char. coal Sketches, i. 35.

And in the “Biglow Papers,” Mr. J. Russell Lowell says:“To all the mos' across lot ways of preachin' an' convertin'."

Adam (popular), master-man, fore

man, or superintendent; termed also “gaffer” or “ boss of the show."

Adam's ale (old), water as a

beverage. It is supposed that this was the only drink of our first parent, and that before

Addle-headed (common), with

little brains, or empty-headed ; from Anglo-Saxon adela, mud.

Addle-pate (common), one whose

brain cannot distinguish between the objects which are outside it and the imaginations within.

Addle - pot (common), a spoil

sport; a mar-all.

Adept (thieves), a pickpocket, a

conjuror. An adept must be one of an audacious spirit with a nimble conveyance and a vocabulary of cabalistic phrases to astonish the beholder. – The Merry Companion, or Delights for the Ingenious, by Richard Neve (Juggler), 1721.

(Old cant), an alchemist.

Noah planted the vine all were
perforce teetotalers.
Your claret's too hot, sirrah drawer, go

bring
A cup of cold Adam from the next
purling spring.

— T. Brown: Works. Another old term for the beverage which “does not intoxicate but does not cheer," is “fish broth." The French argot has the contemptuous epithets "ratafia de grenouilles," and “vase," sometimes varied

to “vasinette." Adam Tiler (old cant), a pick

pocket's confederate, who receives the stolen article, and runs off with it. Origin un. known, but supposed to have been the name of one notorious for his skill at this kind of thing. It is possibly from the German Theiler, one who shares, a con

federate. Added to the list (racing), is said

of a horse which has been castrated. A like operation performed on a man is termed in French slang “Abélardiser," from the barbarous treatment of Abélard by Chanoine Fulbert. When a horse has been imperfectly castrated he is called a

“rig." Addle-cove (popular), a foolish

man, same as addle - pate. “ Literally, a rank sucker.”—

N.Y. Slang Dict. Addled-egg (common), a canard,

an egg from the fabulous mare's nest.

Adjutant's gig (military), the bar

rack roller, which is drawn, presumably under the adjutant's orders, by the defaulters—the men under punishment-who are the slaves, the hewers of wood and drawers of water for officers, comrades, and the barracks generally.

Admiral (naval), the ship which

carries the admiral. Formerly all ships were called admirals.

Our tall admirals that visit every sea. Cornelius O'Dowd.

Admiral of the Blue (old slang),

a public-house keeper, so called, says Grose, because publicans were accustomed to wear blue aprons. Properly an Admiral

Admiral-Adopter.

of the Blue is one of the third class in the navy, and holds the rear in an engagement,

Admiral of the narrow seas (nau

tical), one who from drunkenness vomits into the lap of his opposite companion.

and condemned to death; the old adobe being the slang title of the custom-house where the execution of malefactors takes place. Adobe signifies a sunbaked brick, from the Spanish. At Los Angelos, county California, the skilled silk workers are comfortably housed in adobe cottages.-United States Corres. pondent, Standard, May 1869.

Adoi, adoy (gypsy), there. “A doi

se miri dye!”—“There is my mother!”

Admiral of the Red (common), a

person whose ruby countenance gives unequivocal signs of his penchant for the bottle. Properly, Admiral of the Red is an admiral of the second class, and holds the centre in an engagement.

As regards the word admiral taken in its literal sense, it may be interesting to remark that this word seems to have been introduced into Europe by the Genoese or Venetians in the twelfth or thirteenth century, from the Arabic Amir-al-bahr, commander of the sea, the terminating word having been omitted (Webster).

Adonee (old cant), the Deity. Evi

dently Yiddish, from Adonai, Lord. Martin Luther uses the word as a cant term among beggars for God. A tramps' toast says:“May the good Adonce Soften the strong; Lighten our loads And level our roads."

Admirals of the red, white, and

blue (popular), street and square beadles, office and club doorkeepers.

Adopted (American) signifies a

naturalised citizen. President Lincoln proposed to Congress that the word adopted should be struck from all public documents, so as to place foreign citizens and native-born citizens on an equality.

Admiral of the white (popular), a

white-faced person, a coward; a woman in a faint.

Adobe (American), a house made

of dried clay in adobes or large clay blocks. “To the old adobe," is the death-cry of the vigilants of San Francisco when a criminal is tried by lynch law

Adopter, a scoundrel who pre

tends to be desirous of adopting a child, out of philanthropic motives, on the payment of a certain sum, and either gets rid of it at the earliest opportunity, or leaves it to die of starvation and neglect.

Adopter-Advantage.

they come down at election to examine for Winchester and New College scholarships and exhibitions.

There can be no doubt that if the history of every one of the ten thousand of the young human pariahs that haunt London streets could be inquired into, it would be found that no insignificant percentage of the whole were children abandoned and left to their fate by mock adopters such as F. X.-- James Greenwood : The Seven Curses of London.

The initials refer to the subjoined advertisement, which is given here as a specimen of the mode of proceeding of adopters.

Adoption.- A person wishing a lasting and comfortable home for a young child of either sex will find this a good oppor. tunity. Advertisers, having no children of their own, are about to proceed to America. Premium, fifteen pounds. Respectable references given and required. Address, F. X.

Adrom (gypsy), away. From a and drom, a road or way; Greek Spouós. “Jasa tu adrom, mān hatch akai”—“Go thou away, do not stop here!”

Adsum (Charterhouse), roll-call or

name calling.

Adoption. (Low) “doption,” an

adopted child. In baby farming, “to be mounted for lopping the .doption,'” is to be placed in the criminal dock for causing the death of an adopted child.

Adullamites (Parliamentary), the

seceders from the Liberal party led by Mr. Gladstone during the Reform Agitation of 1867. To “ take refuge in the cave of Adullam" is a phrase borroweå from the Old Testament, and was used during the great American civil war in 1863 by President Lincoln in reference to the partisans of General M.Lellan after his dismissal from the command of the army of the Potomac. It was afterwards used by John Bright in the British Parliament.

John Bright invented another apt phrase when he dubbed the seceders from the Reform party Adullamites. Parliamentary tactics have naturally given birth to many slang words.-Cornhill Magazine.

Adown in the viol (thieves), a hue

and cry against a detected culprit. Adown, although now considered vulgar, was formerly used by our best writers in place of down; viol refers to the noise of the old-fashioned in. strument when played by street musicians, which was very dif. ferent from its offspring the violin.

Adusta, adosta (gypsy), enough.

“Būt adosta Romany chals"_"Many gypsies.”—Lavengro.

Ad portas (Winchester), a Latin

speech delivered by the Senior College Prefect to the War. den of New College, and the "Posers” (see this word), &c., under the middle gate when

Advantage (Californian); pocket

advantage, carrying a pistol charged and at half cock in the coat pocket, so that if the hand is placed in the pocket it rests

Affygraphy— Age.

After four (Eton), the interval

between 3 and 6 P.M.

Aftygraphy (popular) is said of

anything that fits nicely. "Is it in?” said he—“ It is," said she. “Does it fit?” said he—“It does," said

she. “Quite affygraphy?"-"Quite affygraphy."

- The Lady and the Shoemaker.

Aficionado (gypsy), a non-gypsy

who lives and mixes with the tribe. From the Spanish afécion, affection. An aficionado, a true lover and student of gypsy life.-Experiences of a Roumanie Rhei : Penny Illustrated Paper.

Afternoon buyer (popular), one who waits until after the market dinner with the hope of purchasing cheaper than before

that time. Afternoon farmer (popnlar), one who neglects his farming operations until late in the season, or holds over his stock until late in the day, in the hope of getting a better price.

Afloat (common), in a promising or a prominent state or condition.

All the town's afloat.-Gay.

A-fly (low), to get a-fly is to become expert at.

Go first to costermongery,
To every fakement get a-fly,
And pick up all their slangery.

– The Leary Man.

After twelve (Eton), the recess

after morning school and before afternoon class.

I used to visit him regularly in the dear old college from the after twelve.-WhyteMelville : Good for Nothing.

Croppie, who abominated all laws and delighted in transgressions, resolved to go to the fair, and without difficulty he per suaded the Pug and me to join him. One day after twelve the three of us passed over Windsor Bridge in the same condition as the “bold adventurers” alluded to in Gray's Ode. - Brinsley Richards : Seven Years at Eton.

Afterclap (American). In Penn.

sylvania and the Western States of America this signifies an additional, and very often unjust demand beyond the agreement or bargain originally made. “None of your afterclaps.” In Scotland the same word means "evil consequences.”

Age (American, cards, technical),

the oldest band or player to the left of the dealer, who, at Poker, is allowed to pass the first round after the hands are “helped,” and to come in again after all have raised or gone out. He signifies bis intention by saying “ my age," or "I pass the age." The effect is that the first player becomes the last player. This expedient is sometimes used to conceal a very good hand, and at other times as preparatory to

After-dinner man (old), a deep

drinker.

The good Baronet (Sir Francis Burdett) was not only a foxhunter, but a celebrated after-dinner man. It must have been a good bout indeed in which he was worsted. -Dublin Sketch Book, 1830.

Aged-Agonise.

present far more generally used in America than England.

a “ bluff," or a poor one. As cases of absolute equality among hands are all but impossible at Poker, little is risked by it.

Aggari (Anglo-Indian), lit. fire.

carriage, applied by the natives to a railway train.—Hobson Jobson, being an Anglo-Indian Glossary, London 1886.

Aged (racing, technical), any

horse over six years is described as aged. We really do abuse the powers of our blood stock in its undeveloped stage, and use up our racehorses at far too early an age. There is no disputing the fact that Bendigo stands alone as a first-class aged representative racehorse now on the turf, where in former days we had our Laner. costs, Touchstones, Beeswings, Alice Hawthorns, &c., by the dozen. - Sporting Times.

Agee or ajee (American). Bartlett

defines this as “askew;" as to have one's hat agee. From the term gee, used in driving cattle. It seems rather to be derived from gee, “to agree with,” “to fit," with the prefix negative a. In America it is also applied to a door ajar or partly open, as appears by the following rhymes from a comic paper published in Philadelphia in 1833 or 1834 on an incident which occurred there :

Aggerawators (popular), a corrup

tion of "aggravators," the lock of hair formerly in vogue alike among honest costermongersand men of the Bill Sykes type, worn twisted back from the temple towards the ear. It is now in favour among gypsies and a few “bruisers.” The French peasants of Berry are fond of this ornament, which recalls, though much shorter, the old cadenettes of the French hussars. His hair was carefully twisted into the outer corners of each eye, till it formed a variety of that description of semicurls usually known as haggerawators. - Dickens : Sketches by Boz.

Agitate the communicator (com

mon), ring the bell.

Agitator (common), a bell rope;

the street door knocker.

Aglal, glal (gypsy), before, in

front of.

I am an undertaker true,

And know my business well; I'm just the man to punish you,

For sending folks to hell. You quite forgot, behind the door,

When it was left agee, I caught you hugging Mrs. ,

Your heart quite full of glee.

Agogare (American thieves'

slang), be quick! A warning signal. From agog.

According to Wright (Provincial Dictionary), agee is North Eng. lish, and means both awry and ajar. The word is, however, at

Agonise (American), to endure

agony. A favourite word with young or “sensational” clergy

Agonise-Air.

men. The writer once heard one of these declare (in Kentucky), that “We must agonise if we would see God," and he has since mot with the same expression in print.

mild. True grief to have marred Elysian blisses,

SWEETHEART.-Shall be in town shortly after Christmas. So longing to see you, love. True and faithful even to your shadow.

THE MOON.-Bless us and keep us, what can you mean? I never supposed.-ELIAB.

-Standard.

Agony (common), to put or to

pile the agony on, means to thrill, to horrify, to keep up or intensify the excitement attendant on sensational productions. “Wife" is a fair specimen of a book of this kind. It is all agony from beginning to end. There are no pauses for length. ened descriptions of summer evenings or old-fashioned gardens : there are neither panegyrics of virtuous heroes, nor verbal portraits of lovely heroines. The agony is put on at full pressure in the first chap. ter, and is never shut off till the last.Saturday Review.

It is said that the last Carlist revolution was arranged entirely by means of the Times' agony column.

Football players say of the side that makes a number of goals that it “piles on the agony." In theatrical parlance an “ agony piler" is an actor who performs in a sensational play in which the blood of the audience is made to curdle and their flesh creep. To “pile on the agony" was originally American; it was common in 1840.

That particular column in the daily papers, which is headed by private communications between individuals, is called the “agony column." And how does she propose to succeed ? Pollaky? The agony column ? Placards, or a Bell-man?- Black : A Princess of Thule.

Aidh (tinker), butter. Ainoch (tinker), a thing.

Air and exercise (thieves), penal

servitude at a convict settlement. Two stretches of air and exercise, i.e., two years' penal servitude.

HARD.-I beg of you to see me. Your refusal does more harm than good. Your time will suit me. Please don't refuse. I think it most unkind of you, considering all things.-Q.

-Standard. The agony column does not always contain unpleasant or dismal tidings. It is used extensively by lovers and as a means of communication between thieves, &c. SHOULD be delighted to take sweet counsel of an Oracle so lovely, free, and

Airing (racing), a horse is

said to be “out for an airing" when there is no intention on the part of those concerned with him that he should win.

Air line road, an (American), an

expression applied to a railroad track when it passes over

Albany beef (American), the

sturgeon, so called because Washington Irving spoke of the “ hospitable boards” of that city as “smoking with stur. geon.” It is also sometimes called “nigger beef,” sturgeon

Alderman Lushington, intoxicat

ing drink. (Patter imported into Australia by convicts.) Beer or liquor of any kind is lush; to lush is to drink. Speaking of a person who is drunk, the "flash" fraternity say, “Alderman Lushington is concerned," or

Aldgate—All along.

simply, “ He has been voting for the alder. man." A lush-crib, or lush.ken, is a publichouse.- From Vaux's Memoirs.

not paid. Also petty moneyborrowers.

Aldgate pump (old), a draught

on Aldgate pump meant a bill of exchange drawn on persons no better able to pay than Aldgate ритр.

Ale draper (old), ale-house keeper.

All abroad (common) an expres

sion used when any undertaking has failed, and a person is uncertain as to the course to pursue. A variant is “all at sea." “Alas! poor ghost !" It's a doubt which

is most To be pitied-one doom'd to fry, broil,

boil, and roast,Or one bandied about thus from pillar

to post, To be all abroad-to be "stumped," not

to know where To go-so disgraced. -Ingoldsby Legends : A Legend of

Dover,

Alemooch (tinker), milk.

Ales (Stock Exchange), a nickname used by men on 'Change for Allsopp & Sons' stock.

Alexandra limp, the (common),

a fashionable craze, resulting from a toadying imitation of a certain lady well known in society who walks with a slight limp. Your own advocacy for the Grecian bend and the Alexandra limp-both positive and practical imitations of physical afflic. tion.-Chambers's Journal.

Alla compain or alicumpaine

(rhyming slang), rain, termed “parney” in thieves' lingo; also a common sweetmeat de. rived from the name of the plant. Of ups and downs I've felt the shock, Since days of bats and shuttlecocks, And alicum paine and Albert rocks When I the world began.

- The Leary Man. He had been noted for an immoderate partiality for the saccharine though indi. gestible cates known as alecampane, and Bonaparte's ribs.-Sala : The Baddington Peerage.

Alfred David (popular), affidavit;

also Affidavy and Davy.
I almost dropped when up she jumped
And said, “I'm ready now,
But why this look of thusness
That is stealing o'er thy brow?"
I cried, "Avaunt and touch me not!"
Then bolted up the lane,
And I'll take my Alfred David hot,
She don't catch me there again.

-Harry Adams : Blighted Love. He is engaged in receiving the after. davy of a man who got his head broke by a tinker.-Kingsley: Geoffrey Hamlyn.

All afloat, rhyming slang for a

coat.

All alive (tailors), garments un.

fairly or slovenly made.

Algerines (theatrical), performers who bully the manager of a theatre when the salaries are

All along of, an illiterate synonym

for “ on account of,” “by reason of,” or “owing to such and such a cause.” The phrase oc.

All-a-mort-All fours.

curs in print so early as the time of Chaucer, and is therefore in all probability much older.

All-a-mort (old), struck dumb,

confounded.

All around sports (American), men who take an interest in all kinds of sport-racing, shooting, fishing, ball, pedestrianism, sparring, cock-fighting, ratting, &c.

for what's worth having must aye be

bought, And sport's like life, and life's like sport, It ain't all skittles and beer.

-Adam Lindsay Gordon's Poems.

The word skittles itself has ceased to belong to slang phraseology. It may be interesting to remark that the game was originally nine pins ; but the Blue Laws of Connecticut having forbidden that game, the astute sons of the Puritans added a pin, and made the game ten pins, or, as it is now called, “American bowls."

All at sea (common), bewildered,

confused ; “ all at sea on the question." “Dear, do scientific men become sailors when they are scared ?"

“Guess not. Why?"

“Because this paper says that since the earthquake the scientists are all at sea."Pittsburg Bulletin.

All brandy (popular), good, pro

fitable, pleasant.

All bum (popular), a female with

a large bustle.

All beer and skittles, recent slang

signifying that the life and the circumstances of the person to whom it is made applicable are not so pleasant or so happy as they might be, or as they are represented to be. The allusion is to the supposed amusements of working men in the skittle ground, and to the beer which they drink to refresh themselves during the exercise. Even the life of an heir to the Russian throne is not all beer and skittles. The young Grand Duke has narrowly escaped being sent to the Crimea instead of to Cannes for the benefit of his health. Globe.

The expression is sometimes

varied to all skittles and beer. There's danger even when fish are caught

To those who a wetting fear;

All-fired (English and Ameri

can), immoderate, violent. This common expression is thought in New England to be an euphemism for “hell-fired.” Thus people talk of an “all-fired abuse," meaning a crying abuse; an "all-fired hurry,” i.e., in great haste.

I knows I be so all-fired jealous I can't bear to hear o' her talking, let alone writing to.— T. Hughes : Tom Brown at Oxford.

All fours, to be on (common), to

be on good terms, to be exactly similar; probably of Masonic origin, and referring to the completeness and harmony of the four sides of a “square.” The cases (Bradlaugh v. Newdegate, Clarke v. Bradlaugh) are on all fours.Times.

All gay—All my eye.

when a market goes flat, and there is a general disposition to sell.

All gay (thieves), a term to denote

that the coast is clear, a variant of "all serene," all right. French thieves use the expression “tout est franco" in the same sense. Having selected one house, at which James Hawes reported to the fourth man that it was all gay, which the detective, who was in hiding in a garden, understood to mean that no one was at home, the four men joined together near it.-The Globe.

All in a pucker (common), in

confusion; so hurriedly as to agitate and perplex. Women of the lower classes, especially when suddenly flustered and agitated, will declare themselves all in a pucker, and most frequently such a statement will be deemed sufficient qualification to justify a resort to the usual “pick-me-up."

All in fits (tailors). See PARALY. T IC FIT.

All mouth (American), a man who

is a great talker, and only a talker, is said to be all mouth. When one Congressman assaults another he generally hits him in the mouth, that being about all there is to strike at.American Journal.

All-get-out (American), an old

Yankee expression. “Oh, get
out!" appears to have suggested
it. This is uttered very often
when any person announces
or says something extravagant.
Whence the saying, “That beats
all-get-out."
But hark! behold! to-morrer thou,

In deep revenge mayst dry thy tears,
I hev a plan which you'll allow
Beats all.git-out when it appears.

- The Ballad of Tim Zion Boggs. All holiday at Peckham (popular)

is said when there is nothing to eat. Al holiday means no work, and Peckham is a play on

"peck," food. All hollow, hollow (old slang),

completely, utterly. “I beat him all hollow at a race." Probably derived from wholly. All whole, or whole-and-all, heel en al, is a Dutch idiom ; heel-all,

the universe. All in (racing) means that bets made on horses in the list are to stand whether the horse runs or not.

All my eye (popular), nonsense,

untrue. Some philologists have suggested—though they have not adopted-a derivation from the Welsh al mi hivy, it is very tedious, i.e., it is all nonsense. It seems far more probable that it is a contraction of the phrase “there is as much of it as there is in all my cyc," the words being made more forcible by closing one of the organs of vision. To express dissent from any statement, or a refusal to comply with a request, French slang has the corresponding term mon ail! which is usually accompanied by a knowing wink and

All in! (Stock Exchange), an ex

pression used by men on 'Change

All my eye-All nations.

a significant gesture as an invitation to inspect the organ. All my eye is sometimes elongated into “ All my eye and Betty Martin,” which seems to have been the original phrase, and of which many explanations have been given. By many it is said to be a corruption of a Popish prayer to St. Martin, commencing with the words, “O mihi beate Martine!” which fell into discredit at the Reformation. Mr. T. Lewis 0. Davies thinks that it arose from a gypsy woman in Shrewsbury, named Betty Martin, giving a black eye to a constable, who was chaffed by the boys accordingly. The expression must have been common in 1837, as Dickens gives one of the Brick-Lane testimonials as from “ Betty Martin, widow, one child, one eye" (“Pickwick," ch. xxxiii.). Taking for granted that the expression originated from the beginning of a prayer (a tbeory which is now rejected by most etymologists), this would be but one of the many instances of a religious formula being distorted and ridiculed. Thus, the cant term “to patter flash," i.e., to talk in cant, is from “to patter" (signifying to mumble), which itself is probably derived from paternoster. The French use patenôtres with the signification of mumbling, and patenôtres de singe means muttering, grumbling; un vobiscum, from dominus vobiscum, in the

mouth of French work-people, is a disparaging epithet for priest. The familiar cagot, i.e. religious hypocrite, was formerly a friar of a mendicant order. Then ears polite, on both sides of the Channel, are frequently offended by vulgar allusions to the Bulgarian heretics, though the expression has lost its former opprobrious meaning. Again, some etymologists derive the word “bigot" from the first words of a prayer “by God.” “Un goddam” used to be synonymous with an Englishman, at the time when it was thought in France that all Britons bad red hair, sold their wives at Smithfield, got drunk regularly after dinner (this may have been a fact at the time of three-bottle men), and always had a bull-dog with his nose at their heels. Bailey ascribes the origin of hocus pocus, used by quacks, to hoc est corpus meum, when this formula fell into ridicule with many others after the Reformation. It is curious to note that old-fashioned French charlatans still use the words prêchi-précha as an opening to their boniment or puffing speech.

All nations (obsolete), a coat or

garment of different patches; a woman with many colours in her dress. A glass of all nations was supplied at the dram shops, and consisted of the mixed drippings of the spirit taps and drops of spirits left in

All over the shop (common), all

over the place; refers also to an obtrusive and exaggerated performance which asserts itself in an offensive manner. In retail traders' slang it signifies a widely spread movement of any kind, a general scramble, disturbanco, or agitation. (Tailors), used of. a person or thing taking up too much room.

All of my lone (American), all

alone. All on the go (vulgarism), gone,

done away with. Then his supper-so nice !-that had

cost him such painsSuch a hard day's work-now all on

the go! 'Twas beyond a joke, and enough to

provoke The mildest and best-temper'd fiend below!

---Ingoldsby Legends. All out (popular), much, by far;

"all out the best," by far the best. To be all out, to be quite wrong. (Turf), one who has been unsuccessful during a day's racing is said to be all out. (Stock Exchange), all out! an expression to denote that the market improves, and that there is a general disposition to buy.

Allow (American), to admit, to

declare, to intimate that a thing must be done. This word is quaintly used by rustics in different states to express thought, or opinion on its utterance; to give. “All the people in the room allowed that his conduct was perfectly shameful.” “He allowed he'd give me a new trunk if I'd allow him my arm-chair." (Harrow), allow, a boy's weekly allowance of pocket-money.

Allowances (tailors), allowances

for making up a garment, i.e., for se: ms, padding, wadding, buttoning, and respiration.

All plopa-All-same.

All plopa (pidgin), quite right.

Olo Howqua, he talkee. My wife she velly 'culis 'bout pearlee (is very curious or peculiar as to pearls), she likee one kind pearlee, no other chop (quality) can do; she likee pearlee numpa one lound, he whitey colour. Look, see all piopa, allo samee that he Empelor hab got top side he hat. Supposey pearley blongy so fashion, my wifee too much likee, golaw.-Howqua and the Pearls.

game which invariably became monotonous after a while. There is no doubt that, nowadays, the British public cares little for billiard exhibitions in which the staple is a continuous succession of spot strokes. - The Star.

An all round cannon is said of a cannon stroke effected by touching the cushions in succession with one's ball before striking another.

All-rounder (common). A shirt

collar meeting in front, thus covering the throat, was very fashionable a short time ago, and no “masher” would be seen without one reaching up to his ears.

All round (common), a phrase

applied to a thing or person thoroughly adapted to its or his purpose, and signifies in its restricted sense complete and perfect, as “an all round man of business," "an all round lawyer," "an all round sportsman," "an all round gentleman or lady,” or even an “all round scoundrel or thief" (in America an “ all round crook.") An all round man is one who can turn his hand to anything, or a clerk who can undertake all the departments in his business.

A much graver question is raised by the strongly expressed opinion of so many wit. nesses, that the foreigner is at present a better all round man.-The Times.

Mr. Cox in the small part of Coquelicot is quite himself as a thoroughly all round actor-at all events in appearance. -Punch.

An all round player at billiards is one who goes in for any kind of stroke, in contradistinction to a player who plays exclusively the spot stroke.

It was very evident that the sympathies of the audience were with the all round player rather than with the spot performer. The one was all grace and variety. The other, with plenty of grace, was playing a

All round my hat (popular), “I

feel all round my hat,” I feel queer, do not feel very well. “ That's all round my hat” is synonymous with “ that's all gammon," or nonsense. From a song which was very popular

in 1834. Alls (popular), tap droppings, or inferior spirits, sold cheap; (workmen's), goods and chattels, or, perhaps, more properly, tools. “Come, pack up your alls and be off," is a common form of dismissal to a labourer or workman.

All-same (pidgin), a very common

expression for “the same as," like, or equal.

Supposey you hearee plenty talkee 'bout fashion. Ch "hoy! my tinkee Chinawoman, fankwei woman, állo woman, állo tinkey állo same inside her mouth. Wat tim you pay plenty dolla', he allo-tim good fashion.-Howvqua and the Pearls.

All serene—All the caboose.

All serene (popular), all safe, all

right. Who're you, sir?-oh, Mister So-andso-all right-and this gentleman ?-friend o' Mr. W.'s-oh, very well-yes, there's Barney--this a friend o' yours, Barney ? yes ?-all right, then-yes, I think we're all serene !--Bird o' Freedom.

Some years ago the phrase was
bawled in the streets, before
such expressions as “How's
your poor feet?” “Who's your
hatter ?” came into vogue. The
Parisians at this time indulged
in equally idiotic inquiries or
calls, such as “ Et tes pieds
sont-ils à la sauce ?” “Ohé
Lambert! as-tu vu Lambert ?”
"Et ta scur ?" Of more re-
cent creation is the stupid “On
dirait du veau.”

“perfect, complete in every de. tail, having every quality.” AU sorts of a horse is a horse pos. sessed of every merit, not one that is merely excellent or capital. All sorts of a job (E. A. Poe, cited by Bartlett) does not mean an expert, acute, or excel. lent undertaking, but one requiring all conceivable abilities. In this it corresponds to the German allerlei and Dutch allerley. “Hy is van allerley soort voorzien.” Allerley is, in fact, translated all sorts by Sewel.

All smoke, gammon, and pickles

(popular), all deceit, nonsense. All sorts. (See ALL NATIONS.)

Allspice (popular), a grocer.
All's quiet on the Potomac!

(American). This phrase ori-
ginated during the Civil War,
and has since been the refrain
of a very popular song. It de-
notes quietude; a period of calm
enjoyment. “Don't fret about
things; they are going on
swimmingly, for all's quiet on
the Potomac.”

All T. H. (tailors), all right, or

very good indeed (stock cutters).

All sorts and conditions of men.

The title of a novel by Walter Besant, and the heading of a well-known collect in the PrayerBook. It has passed into such common and general use as to have become a truly “ fixed popular phrase.” (See ALL Nations.)

It was a rare mess, all sorts and condi. tions of men, women, and children, dogs and cats, promiscuously intermingled, and all on one grand kick-up.-American Newspaper,

All the caboose (common), every.

where. The caboose is the galley or cooking place of a ship, or simply a kitchen. “ The fact is he conquers us every one,

Does love, love, love! We don't find it out till the mischief is

done,

By love, love, love ! To fight against him is no manner of use, A gander's a gander, a goose is a goose, And Cupid's the king over all the caboose.

Oh ! love, love, love!”

All sorts of (American). Bartlett

defines this as “ expert, acute, excellent, capital." It is more accurately, as its name declares,

All the shoot (popular), the whole

assembly, all the party. “Every man-jack of them.” The Prince of Wales in a bricklayer's

suit, I could scarcely believe my eyes. Helping to build the Royal Institute ! At a penny an hour less than all the shoot.

Oh! what a surprise! -Oh! what a Surprise! Broadside

Ballad.

All the go (common), in demand,

fashionable, meeting with a very ready sale.

Jerry Hawthorn was agreeable, and he and Corinthian Tom were soon in the midst of Life in London, and lost no time in calling on young Bob Logic, who was a gay spark like his father, and quite au fait with all the sprees of the metropolis. “Fashions have changed, my dcar Coz," said the Corinthian," and the young bucks and exquisites seem to us to dress strangely; but I suppose their attire is all the go now, and these are the swell suits made by the Dickey Primefit of the day."—Punch.

It is also used in America.

A gentleman entered a Chicago gun. store and asked to be shown some revolvers. " Here is a nice family weapon," said the clerk. “Family weapon ?” “Yes, a family weapon. Just the thing for domes. tic tragedies. It has six chambers, sir, two bullets for your faithless wife, two for the ruthless destroyer of your home, and two for yourself. They are all the go now."- Texas Siftings.

Fine stock is getting to be all the go in that line here now, and there is some as fine here as can be found anywhere.--. Carlisle Correspondence.

All the way down, or simply all the

way (common slang, probably American), entirely (cf. “down to the ground”). It implies probably from top to bottom. A common phrase is “that will suit me all the way down,” or all the way.

All to his own cheek (tailors)

signifies all to himself.

All to pieces (common), utterly,

excessively. To beat one ali to pieces is to surpass one altogether. The term is also used by boating men. A crew are said to have fallen all to pieces when they are exhausted and the rowing is wild.

All there (general), extensively

used with the signification of first-rate, up to the mark. A good player at any game is said to be all there; the same is said of a pretty, well-dressed woman. A smart officer also is all there. It likewise means to be in one's

element. The band and the 'opping was prime,

though, and 'Arry in course was all

there, I'd several turns with a snappy young

party with stror-coloured 'air; Her name she informed me was Polly, and

wen, in my 'appiest style, I sez, “Polly is nicer than Politics !" didn't she colour and smile!

-Punch.

All up (general), a synonym for

“all over,” signifies that the end has come to any one, that all is over with him. “All to smash" is another phrase of a similar meaning, applied to a person whose affairs are irretrievably involved, who is utterly bank. rupt in fortune. Thus one hears that “So-and-so has gone all to smash," i.e., his credit is gone. Plans, and indeed anything, may

go “all to smash.” A similar expression is popular among the lower classes in Belgium and Holland, and among children alle op signifies that everything is gone-all is over. An odd variety of this slang is sometimes heard in the United States. Mr. Bartlett records that it is a common expression among servants in Pennsylvania to say, “all any more," instead of “all gone" or all's up.

variety of ways, and Lord Lytton in a certain measure acclimatised it on this side of the water. For example, he speaks in the following quotations of almighty smash (that is, a state of complete demolition); of “driving into almighty shivers” (a state of entire collapse); and of “almighty crack” (that is, without ceasing-a reference to the popular crack of doom). These phrases arethusillustrated from one of his best works“I wish you would mind the childit is crumpling up and playing almighty smash with that flim-flam book, which cost me one pound one."

"As if that was not enough to destroy and drive into 'almighty shivers,' a decent fair-play Britisher like myself."

“Let us cut short a yarn of talk which, when it comes to likings and dislikings, might last to almighty crack.'".

-My Novel. “The 'almighty dollar,' that great object of universal devotion throughout our land, seems to have no genuine devotees in these peculiar villages."-Washington Irving : Creole Village.

All wag blue (American), a jolly

time, a frolic, a jamboree.MS. Americanisms, by C. Leland Harrison.

'Tis merry in hall
When beards wag all.

-Shakspeare.

Ally-beg, a bed. This very ancient and nearly obsolete cant word was expressive of the pleasure found by the vaga. bond classes in the unusual luxury of a warm and comfortable resting-place for the night. People who slept in a nook in a wall, under a bush or a hedge, or the chance shelter of a barn or outhouse, spoke of a bed as aille, pleasant, agreeable, and beg, little, i.e., a little place or barbour of pleasantness. Leab is Gaelic for a bed, and

leab-beg, a little bed ; and leab· ker or lybker, a house with beds

in it, a lodging-house for travel. lers.

Almyra, an Anglo-Indian word

for a chest of drawers, derived from the Hindustani almāri, and the Portugese almario. Old English, ambry, a cupboard, niche; Italian, armadio; Latin, armaria.

Alsatia (common), synonymous

with low quarter. The higher Alsatia was a sanctuary in White Friars, where people were formerly free from arrest for debt. The lower Alsatia was also a sanctuary of the same descrip.

Almighty smash (American) The

adjective is used in an infinite

Alsatia-Ambassador.

without any possible means of verification.

tion, and was situated in the Mint in Southwark. And for this ruin the gambling-house is responsible. Huntley is but one of the thousands who are stripped annually of all they possess in this modern Alsatia. Not only of their money, but of their health and of their happiness.-T. Greenwood : A Gambling Hell.

Altering the jeff's click (tailors),

making up a garment without reference to the cutter's chalk lines or style. .

Altham (old cant), a "curtall's"

wife. A curtall was a second in command in the fraternity of vagabonds.

Whitefriars, adjacent to the Temple, then well known by the cant name of Alsatia, had at this time, and for nearly a century afterwards, the privilege of a sanctuary, unless against the writ of the Lord Chief Justice... The place abounded with desperadoes of every de. scription-bankrupt citizens, ruined game. sters, irreclaimable prodigals, &c. &c.Scott: Fortunes of Nigel.

The haunt of gladiators and prize. fighters--of the vicious and penniless-of the savage and the obscene--the Alsatia of an ancient city.-Lord Lytton : The Last Days of Pompeii.

Altitude (obsolete), a drunken

man was said to be “out of his altitude."

Alsatian (old), a rogue, such as

lived in Alsatia or Whitefriars. He spurr'd to London, and left a thousand curses behind him. There he struck up with sharpers, scourers, and Alsatians.--Gentleman Instructed.

Amah (Anglo-Indian), a wet-nurse.

Portuguese ama, German amme, a nurse.

A sort of good-natured housekeeper-like bodies, who talk only of ayahs and amals, and bad nights and babies, and the advantages of Hodgson's ale while they are nursing ; seeming, in short, devoted to suckling fools and chronicling small beer.Letter from Madras, Yule and Burnell's Anglo-Indian Glossary.

In pidgin English it has the same signification : My look-see, one amah, t'at amah has got one piecee littee fankwei chilo, wat look-see allo-same one Japanee nitchky. I askee amah, “How much you sellum my that one piecee culio ?”—The Saucy Sayings of Wan-Tong.

Altemal (American thieves' slang),

altogether; the sum total of a story or bill; cut it short. From the Dutch altemal, altogether. What was the altemal? It only raised fifteen cases. The dummy raked a case and a half, and the thimble was a first, but the slang and onions were bene. On the Trail.

Amandi, mende, men (gypsy), we;

amendi, a men dui, we two. “Jāsa tu sar amandi, mān se trashno" — “Come with us; don't be afraid."

In olden days the phrase was specially applied to the accounts rendered to the frequenters of brothels, such being given without details—a practice which allowed of gross overcharges

Ambassador (nautical), a practical

joke performed on board ship by Jack Tars in warm latitudes,

Ambassador — Amen.

the victim being ducked in the wash-deck tub, and subjected to other indignities (Admiral Smyth). Sailors of other nations indulge in similar jokes when crossing the equator.

of fide commissarius. It is also applied to native assistants in land surveying. - Yule and Burnell : Anglo - Indian Glos

sary.

Bengalee dewans, once pure, are converted into demons; ameens, once harmless, become tigers.-Peterson, Speech in the Nie Durpan case, ibid.

Ambia or ambeer (American), a

euphemism for salivated tobacco juice, the result of chewing. Bartlett says, “The word is a corruption of amber, to which it bears a slight resemblance in colour, manifesting certainly a delicacy of expression which borders upon the poetical.” The word ambia, as generally used at Princeton, which largely represents the solid South, is not applied to saliva, but to the intensely strong nicotine, or thick brown substance which forms in pipes. I have always supposed that it is merely a Southern variation of amber, which exactly represents its colour.-Notes by C. G. Leland,

Ameer (Anglo-Indian), originally

an Arab word amin, root amr, signifying commanding or a commander, is used in the East in a very general way for dignitaries and magnates.

Amen (gypsy), among.

Amen a shel o' Gorgios,
Jinas len Romany;
(Among a hundred Gorgios,
You'd know the Romany.)

-0. Patteran.

Ambidexter (obsolete), a barrister

who acts as a counsel for both parties. Also a blackleg who shares with both parties at the gaming-table, or on the racecourse.

Amen chapel (Winchester), a

service on “ Com. and Ob.” (which see), when the responses are chaunted to the organ, and instead of the ordinary psalms and first lesson, Psalms 145, 146, and 147, and Eccles. are used.

Amen curler (old), a parish clerk,

from the response so frequently made use of by him.

Ambush (American), a nickname for the scales used by grocers, coal-dealers, &c. So called because they are always “ lying in weight.”

Ameen (Anglo-Indian), an Arabic

word amin, meaning a trustworthy person, but applied by the English in India to several kinds of native officials, nearly all reducible to the definition

Amen wallah (military), the

chaplain's clerk, who makes the responses in the garrison or other church. The suffix wallah is the well-known Hindustani word signifying man or person, and is one of innumerable instances of the adoption in our army of Hindustani terms,

TALENTED “AMERICANESSES" ABROAD. - Miss Anna E. Klumpke, who has been studying for many years under the best Paris masters, can now be ranked among the first American portrait artists.. She received an " Honourable Mention" in last year's Salon for her portrait of her sister, Dr. Klumpke, whose appointment to be house surgeon in the Paris hospitals created no little sensation a year ago in French medical circles. Miss Klumpke, the artist, is now in the South of France finishing a portrait of Miss Elizabeth Cady Stanton.-Chicago Tribune.

Americanising (American).

“ Americanising a people,” according to the Rev. J. S. Gubel. man, “consists in teaching them the English language. After this come sundry minor virtues. He is not a true American who desecrates the Sabbath, who yields to intem. perance, or treads down the

Ampersand (American, but of

English origin), the seat or hinder part. In one of the Crockett almanacs a hunter speaks of a bear's ampersand. Derived from “and per se and," thus explained by Bartlett :

“Two generations ago, when Irish schoolmasters were common at the South, this expression, equivalent to the& annexed to the alphabet (meaning & per se and, to distinguish it from &c.), was in frequent use."

As the ampersand came at the bottom of the alphabet, it came to be at length associated with the breech itself.

But he observed in apology, that it (z) was a letter you never wanted hardly, and he thought it had only been put there “to finish off th' alphabet, like, though ampus. end (&) would ha' done as well,” for what he could see.-George Eliot: Adam Bede.

A shrivelled, cadaverous, neglected piece of deformity, i' the shape of an ezard or an empersi-and, or in short anything.Charles Macklin : The Man of the World

laws."

American shoulders (tailors),

shoulders cut broad and " built up," to give the wearer an appearance of massiveness about the shoulder.

Ample - Anchorage.

Ample form. Lodge opened by

the Grand Master in person, “Due Form" by the deputy, “Form" by other mason or person. Also used colloquially for the “correct thing."

Amputate your timber, or your mahogany, to (common), to go away, run off. A variant of "cut your stick," as a person who cuts a walking-stick from a tree or hedge previous to starting on a journey.

A-muck (Anglo-Indian), from the Malay amuk or amok, to run furiously and desperately at any and every one, to make a furious onset. A word probably derived from the Malay, though there is some reason to ascribe an Indian origin to the term. Malayan scholars say it rarely occurs in any other than the verbal form mengāmuk, to make a furious assault. It has passed into general use, and is often applied to any one who sets himself up to defy popular opinions, or the multitude. The word was familiar to Englishmen two centuries ago. Frontless and satire-proof he scours the

streets, And runs an Indian muck at all he meets. -Dryden: The Hind and the

Panther, A.D. 1687. Satire's my weapon, but I'm too discreet To run a-muck, and tilt at all I meet. -Pope: Imitation of Horace, A.D.

1727--Anglo-Indian Glossary. To run amock is to get drunk with opium . . . to sally forth from the house, kill the person or persons supposed to have

injured the amock, and any other person that attempts to impede his passage.Cook's Voyage. Amusers (English and American),

thieves, who formerly used to throw snuff or pepper in a vic. tim's eyes, while an accomplice robbed him, under pretext of

rendering assistance. Anabaptist (obsolete), a thief,

caught in the act, and doused

in the horse trough or pond. Analken (tinker), to wash. Analt (tinker), to sweep, to broom. Anāva, Anner (gypsy). In the

common dialect anner or hanner, to bring, fetch, carry.

“If tute'll anner a truslo levinor mandy 'll pessur lis"_“If you will bring a quart of ale, I'll pay for it.” Anchor (nautical). “Bring your

self to an anchor," a common phrase, which signifies “sit down."

“Hullo, Pet!... bring yourself to an anchor, my man." The Pet accordingly anchored himself by dropping on to the edge of a chair.-C. Bede : Verdant Green.

“ To let go an anchor to the windward of the law," to keep just within the letter of the law. Sailors use the expression “to heave anchor,” meaning to go away. And yet, my boys, would you believe me? I returned with no rhino from sea ; Mistress Polly would never receive me, So again I heav'd anchor-yo, yea !

-C. Dibdin : The Good Ship the Kitty. Anchorage (popular), a place of

abode. The term explaining itself.

Ancient mariners (Oxford Uni.

versity slang), rowing “dons" at Oxford. A crew of dons (vide Dons) are always called ancient mariners.

And he didn't (tailors), often used

to express the belief that a person has really done something discreditable in spite of the attempt to prove his innocence.

Angeliferous (American), a word

signifying “angelic,” and first used by Bird in his novel of “Nick of the Woods,” in which roaring Ralph Stackpole frequently calls the heroine “an. geliferous Madam!” Heaven, my hyarers, is all sorts of a glorious, beautiful, angeliferous place. Eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard, it hath not entered into the heart of any cracker round in these hyar diggins to conceive what carryins-on the jest-madeperfect hev up thar.-A Hard-West Sermon.

Angels altogether (West Indian),

a sobriquet applied to those who habitually give way to excessive drinking.

Angel's footstool (nautical), an

imaginary sail jokingly assumed to be carried by Yankee vessels. It is said to be a square sail, and to top the “ sky sails,” “moon sails,” “cloud cleaners," &c.- W. Clark Russell : Sailors' Language.

And no mogue (tailors), and no mistake, joking apart. Sometimes it is used as an interrogation, and at other times to express disbelief; for instance, a man may be relating some incredible story, and an auditor will convey a world of meaning by quietly remarking, but with

peculiar emphasis, and no mogue. And no whistle (tailors). This

remark means, no one seems to think that what you have said

applies to yourself, but I do. Andrew Miller (nautical), a man

o'-war; Andrew Miller's lugger, a vessel of the royal navy, is smugglers' slang taken out to Australia by the convicts, and is used by accomplices in warning the smugglers of the ap

proach of revenue cutters, &c. Anerjāl (gypsy), over against, vis.

à-vis. Mungwé is also an obso-
lete term for the same.

An ríkkerdas stardy anerjål,
To akovo kālo Romany chál.

-0. Delaben. Angelicas (popular), young un.

married women.

Angel's gear (nautical), a grace

ful term used by gallant tars to denote female attire.

Angel suit (tailors), vest and jacket

combined, and the trousers made to button to the bottom of the jacket. It is now a thing of the past.

Angel's whisper (military), the

bugle or trumpet call for defaulters' drill. It sounds from three to four times a day, and the expression is undoubtedly euphemistic; like the favourite 37

Angel's—Animal.

expletive of the sea captain, who, when reproving his crew, said : “ Bless you, my lads ; bless you! You know what I

Anglomaniacs (American),

another name for Bostonians as being ultra-English. There is a club at Boston called the Anglomaniacs.

mean."

Anglaterra, Anghiaterra (gypsy),

England.

Angled (billiards), an angled ball

is one that is so near the edge of the pocket, that a player is prevented from playing at any other ball direct.

Angry boys. Slang of the early

part of the seventeenth century, to designate the noisy and riotous young men or “ bloods," who in drunken or semi-drunken frolics made nocturnal disturbances in the streets, and committed outrages on unoffending passengers. A century later these public nuisances were

called Mohawks. I have heard some speech Of the angry boys, and seen 'em take to. bacco.

-- Ben Jonson: The Alchemist. Get thee another nose that will be pullid Off by the angry boys for thy conversion. -Beaumont and Fletcher: The Scorn.

ful Lady.

Anglers or hookers (thieves),

petty thieves, who steal goods by means of a stick with a hook at the end. Suffer none, from far or near, With their rights to interfere ; No strange Abram, ruffler crack, Hooker of another pack, Rogue, or rascal, frater, maunderer, Irish toyle, or other wanderer; No dimber-damber, angler, dancer. -Ainsworth : Oath of the Canting

Crew.

Angular party (common), a party

composed of three, five, or seven persons.

Modern French thieves call this mode of purloining “grinchissage au boulon," from the circumstance that the hook is inserted through a bolt-hole in the shutters. Angler is a very old slang term (nearly obsolete) for an adventurer or catchpenny. It may be found used in Breton's “Wit's Trenchmen” (159) in this sense. It is now also applied to rogues, who at races and country fairs entice the unwary to try their luck at the thimblerig, prick in the garter, three-trick-card, &c.

Angustrin (gypsy), a finger, a

ring, corrupted to wongashy. It also means only a finger'sbreadth, or a very little, in any sense. Hence wongish, a little, a short time. “.Hatch a wongish, besh a wongish akai for me,' pende lāki "_" · Stop a little, wait a little here for me,' she said."

Animal, to go the whole (Ameri

can), in common use in the West. It is a mere, though more popular variant of the

Animal-Anointed.

English “to go the whole hog," and means the same.

That they had much better pay firstclass, and go the entire animal.-Sala : Twice Round the Clock.

Opposing all half measures, and preferring to go the extreme animal.-Dickens : Nicholas Nickleby. Animals (American cadets), the

cognomen by which new arrivals are known at the West Point Military Academy (see also “ BEASTS ”). The English have “ snooker” and the French “melon” as equivalents. A new cadet who puts on extravagant airs and pretensions--a coxcomb or “puppy"—is called “a fast animal.”

blood,” or “of coffee colour." This may be compared with the Scotch expression that a person of deficient intellect “wants twopence in the shilling."Anglo-Indian Glossary.

In the United States this slang is paralleled by the following expressions :-“ He” or “she has a lick of the tar-brush." “He has a white stripe down the back,” it being believed that mulattoes or quadroons have a line of light colour on the spine.

Ankair (gypsy), to begin.
" I ain't lelled kek religion,

An' i'll kek ankair kennā;
But if waver foki kāms lis
Mükk lendy kair ajā."

-E. H. Palmer. ("I have taken (got) no religion, and I'll not begin now ; but if other people like it, let them do so."

Annex (American), to steal. It

became popular in 1835, at the time of the annexation of Texas, which was regarded by many as a theft. Robert, “Prince" of the Yetholm gipsies, was recently charged with stealing a pair of spectacles. The “Prince" said that his eyes were in a very queer condition, and that he had no intention of an. nexing the spectacles, which he picked up quite by accident ; but the beak remarked that bagging barnacles constituted a serious offence, and was a short-sighted policy for a man to pursue. As “Prince" Robert left the dock he promised faithfully to avoid the eyes of the law in future.-Fun.

Ankle (common).

“She has sprained her ankle," she has had an illegitimate child. Also, “She has broken her leg.” A somewhat similar expression is used in the French theatrical world; a lady who is enceinte is said to have a bad

knee: “Elle a mal au genou.” Anna (Anglo-Indian). Hindi, ānā

or ānāh, the sixteenth part of a rupee. The term is also applied colloquially to persons of mixed parentage. “Such an one has at least two annas of dark

Anodyne necklace (old), a halter.

The hangman's noose was also called the “ Tyburn tippet,” a “horse's nightcap," a "hempen cravat.”

Anog (American), an andiron.

Bartlett derives this from handdog, Dutch aan-hoog, that which heightens or raises.

Anointed (Irish), is expressive of

great rascality.

Anointing—Another.

Anointing (popular), a sound beat.

ing, the effect taken for the cause.

Whenever you meet me, I've always a joke,

Another fellah's. I love a good weed, so invariably smoke

Another fellah's.
Round into the Cri. every evening I slip,
And deep in the pale sparkling bitter I dip,
And when I've no money I generally sip

Another fellah's.
Not mine, nor yours,
Not his, nor hers,
No, no-another fellah's.

- Another Fellah's Ballad.

Anonyma (obsolete), or incognita,

a lady of the demi-monde or even quart-de-monde, corresponds to the French cocotte. The carefully sealed envelopes containing letters from fair anonymas.-Bulwer Lytton : Kenelm Chillingly.

The late Mr. H. J. Byron, the playwright and actor, in some MSS. annotations to a copy of the “ Slang Dictionary," now in the British Museum, says, writing in November 1868, that “Miss — , said to have been the real Anonyma, died at Paris about that time.” Other synonyms are “pretty horsebreaker," " demi-rep," and the more modern “tart," which, however, is used also in the sense of woman, wife. The lower in the scale are-mot, common jack, bunter, bed-fagot, shake, bulker, gay woman, unfortunate, barrack-hack, dress lodger, &c.

Another guess sort of man (old).

The expression is invariably applied to one who is knowing and “fly," or not the man you take him to be. It has a close resemblance both in sound and meaning to the Yiddish "chess.” This may be a mere coincidence, but it is certainly of English origin. He has been a student in the temple these three years; another guess sort of man, I assure you.-Tom D'Urfey: Madame Tickle, 1682.

Another acrobat (music hall), for another tumbler, i.e., another glass of drink.

Another fellow's (popular), a

slang phrase which, like most of its kind, owes its popularity to its almost indefinite power of application. Thus if a man remarks that he has a new coat, he is asked if it was another fellow's, or if the girl with whom he is in company is not the property of some one else.

Another lie nailed to the counter

(American), a very common expression in American newspapers in reference to detected slanders, &c. It was usual in olden times to nail “ Bungtown (i.e., Birmingham) coppers," and all kinds of counterfeit or worthless coins, to the counters of the country “stores” or shops. This is mentioned in the “ Jack Downing Letters." “If there is any truth," exclaims the excited editor of a North Carolina paper, “in the story that one of the Chicago Anarchists is employing his time in jail in the perfecting of an invention by which a clarionet, equal in tone to the best in the market, can be made of tin and sold for fifteen cents, the man ought to be hanged

Antimony (printer's), type.

Anty-up (Australian and Ame

rican), a game of cards. As they ride up, a savage-looking halfbred bull dog yelps hoarsely, and two or three men creep out from underneath the tarpaulin of the nearest dray, where they have been playing anty-up (a favourite game with cards) for tobacco. John re• cognises a teamster who has been employed by himself.-D. Sladen.

Anyhow you can fix it (Ame

rican), however you may try, try
as you may. “I don't see how
you can convince me of that,
anyhow you can fix it.'
Once on a drift log I tink I see an

alligator, Scull my boat roun' and chuck him sweet

potater. I hit him on de head an' try fur to wix it, Couldn't fool him bad, wouldn't nohow fix it.

Den I up wid a brick,

An' I hit him such a lick! An' 'twas nuffin but a pine log upon a big

stick. -Gumbo Cuff, a Negro Ballad, 1832.

From ante, the stake with which the dealer at poker commences each hand before dealing the cards; he puts up a “chip” in front of him, hence the name. Make good the ante ; the dealer, after looking at his hand, must either go out of the

Any other man (American). This

phrase had a great “run” in 1860. If a man became prosaic,

Any other—Apes.

or began to “discurse," and to use alternatives such as “Brown, or Jones, or Robinson,” he was promptly called to order by the cry " or any other man.” It was first made known in type by Charles G. Leland in a comic sketch in the New York Vanity Pair. It has since been discovered that in “Waverley" there is the expression “Gif any man or any other man."

It is related of the celebrated Richard Brinsley Sheridan that his son Thomas, who was a candidate for a seat in Parliament, jestingly declared to him that he had no decided political principles, that he was inclined to serve the party which would pay him best, and that he should put a placard on his forehead inscribed with the words, “ To let." His father replied, “All right, Tom; but don't forget to add, “unfurnished !'".

Any racket (rhyming slang), a

penny faggot.

Anything else, not doing (Ame

rican), a strong affirmationgenerally in reply to a question as to what is or has been done by a third party. “Was So-andso drunk,” or “bad tempered," or “ in good spirits ?” “He didn't do or want anything else,” would be the reply.

Ape, an “ape-leader” is an old

maid. The expression occurs in “The Taming of the Shrew," and is still common. The punishment of old spinsters, it was said, was to lead apes in Hades; whereby two equally innocent beings — the maid and the ape—were equally but unjustly punished. It is probably an old superstition derived from the East. In India and China, certain evil-doers are supposed to carry about or lead in hell certain animals. (Vide Doolittle, “ China.”). “To say an ape's paternoster," is to chatter indistinctly, either from cold or excitement. The expression corresponds to the French “dire des patenôtres de singe."

Anywhere down there (tailors),

an expression which comes almost simultaneously from every man in the “shop ” when any. thing is dropped on the floor. The words are peculiarly aggravating if it is a breakable article.

Apartments to let (popular), a

term used in reference to one who is not over bright, whose head requires metaphorically some furniture to fill its empty rooms. The French have a kindred expression for a man who shows signs of becoming crazy, and say that he is removing his furniture, “il déménage.”

Apes (Stock Exchange), a nick

name for Atlantic first mortgage bonds.

If anything tickles our fancy, We buy them “Brums,"" "Caleys," or “A pes."

-Atkin : House Scraps.

Apopli-Apple-pie.

Apopli (gypsy), once more, again,

yet again. Kair lis apopli, do it again; anpāli, back again, lit., " or after.”

metaphor. One will say that his apple-cart is upset, meaning that he has been disappointed by the failure of his plans. (American) “ To upset one's apple-cart and spill the peaches,' means to ruin any undertaking. The phrase was originally American, and had peculiarly this signification. Hotten's limitation of it to the human body was all conjecture and fancy."

Apostles (University, Cantab.).

The “Gradus ad Cantabrigiam" says : “ The apostles are the clodhoppers of literature, who have at last scrambled through the Senate House without being plucked, and have obtained the title of B.A. by a miracle. The last twelve names on the list of Bachelor of Arts-those a degree 1ower than the oι πολλοί-are thus designated." The apostles are so called because they are twelve in number. (Common) “to mancuvre the apostles,” to borrow money from one person to pay another, an allusion to the expression, “Robbing Peter to pay Paul.”

Apple-dumpling shop (common), a fat woman's exposed breasts. The French argot, with more galanterie, terms the same “oranges sur l'étagère."

Apple-pie bed (general), is made

by untucking the sheet at the bottom of the bed and doubling it up, so as to form a sort of bag half way down the bed and thus preventing the owner from stretching himself at full length. A common trick of mischievous boys and girls at boardingschools and elsewhere.

Apostle's Grove, St. John's Wood, also called "Grove of the Evangelist.” Evilly disposed persons might remark that the place is saintly only in name, as in some parts it corresponds to the Rue Breda of Paris, where ladies of the demi-monde and even quartde-monde dwell.

Apple-pie day (Winchester col

lege), the last Thursday in Long Half, when the"men"get their money and the scholars get apple-pie.

Apple-cart (popular), the human

body. The term is in keeping with the “ potato trap," which does duty in the slang vocabulary for mouth; the “bread basket,” for stomach; “ crumpet," for head, &c. To the imaginative powers of costermongers we probably owe the

Apple - pie order (common), in

regular order. “Order" is an old word for a row, and a properly made apple-pie had, of old, always an order, or row of regularly cut “turrets," or an exactly divided border. Pies are seldom made now in this

of the last century. It was made of sarsaparilla and other drugs, and sold at the coffeehouses.

man, moucher, hooker, flash cove, bug-hunter, cross-cove, buz-faker, fogle-hunter, stookhauler, toy-getter, tooler, propnailer, palmer, dragsman, buzgloak, amuser, bob-sneak, bouncer, bully-prigger, thimble-twister, gun, conveyancer, dancer, pudding-snammer, ziff, drummer, knuck, buttock-and-file, poll-thief, little snakesman, millben, a cove on the cross, flashman, finder, gleaner, picker, tax-collector," and formerly “a good fellow, a bridle-cull, a sampsman, an angler." — Bar. rère's Argot and Slang.

Ark (thieves), a boat or vessel.

(Military), a box in the barrackroom used for holding extra articles of a man's kit. In America a large boat used on rivers to transport produce to market.

It may be noted, that in the northern counties the large chests in farm-houses used for keeping meat or flour are called arks. Villon, the old French poet, in his Jargon Jobelin, terms arque a coffer or moneybox, and in the modern French argot “aller à l'arche" means to go frequently to the moneybox, to spend one's money freely.

Argify (popular), a jargon corrup

tion of to argue. “The European league of Peace and Liberty have just held a congress at Geneva. The first sitting was very noisy. Most 'leagues' prefer liberty to peace, when it comes to argifying."

Do you want to argify, you little beggar. -Leech's Cartoons.

Ark and dove (masonic), an

American degree preparatory to the R.A.

Argol-bargol. According to Hot

ten this is a Scotch phrase signifying “to bandy words." It is possible that it has a Hebrew derivation. Bar-len in Yiddish is, “to talk or speak in any way," and bargolis is one who goes about in misery and poverty, perhaps a fluent beggar. Argol is the popular pronunciation of ergo-as given by Dame Quickly-a word which of old was continually used in argumentative conversation.

Arkansas toothpick (American),

a large bowie knife which shuts up into the handle. It is a piece of savage irony which thus dubs it, as the blade, which has a point of half its length, is over a foot long and two inches

broad. Straightway leaped the valiant Slingby,

Into armour of Seville,
With a strong Arkansas toothpick,

Screwed in every joint of steel.
-Ben Gaultier : American Ballads, B.

Aristippus (old), a diet drink

much in vogue in the latter part

Ark floater (theatrical), an actor

so loaded with years, that he is supposed, through some effort

of the imagination, to have made his début before the “floats," i.e., the footlights in Noah's ark. People will say, “You must have come out of the ark,” or “You were born in the ark;” because you are so old-fashioned, and ignorant of current events.

Ark-man (old), Thames boatman

(Baumann).

Ark-ruff (old), fresh-water thief.

Armpits (old), petty larceny. The term has been imported into Australia by the convicts. Vaux, in his Memoirs, says: “ To work under the armpits, is to practise only such kinds of depredation as will amount, upon conviction, to what the law terms single or petty larceny, the extent of punishment for which is transportation for seven years. By following this system a thief avoids the halter, which certainly is applied above the armpits.” Watches are stolen by using the right hand under the armpit of the left arm, which is put across the breast.

taking a Sunday walk with his
young woman. The correspond-
ing word for the young woman
is “Sarah Jane" or “Jemima."
The'Arries are almost indigenous
to London, are generally to be
seen with short pipes in their
mouths, and swarm at fairs and
races and other places of public
resort, talking slang and puff-
ing tobacco smoke, and if not
altogether of the same genus
as the roughs and rowdies that
infest great cities, are little re-
moved from them in manners,
appearance, and conversation.
'Arry smokes a two-penny smoke,

Oh! poor 'Arry!
'Arry's pipe's enough to choke,

Bad boy, 'Arry!
'Arry thinks it very good fun

To puff his cheap cigar
Into the faces of every one
While doing the la-di-da.

-Ballad: How do, 'Arry? The female'Arry is sometimes called an “'Arriet." As an inhabitant of Munster Square, I am quite content to gaze on the “green space," and should be very sorry to see it become the rendezvous of the 'Arries and "'Arriets” of the neighbourhood. - The Echo.

Arse-board, the hinder part of a

cart.

Armstrong, Captain (turf), a dishonest jockey. “He came Captain Armstrong” is equivalent to saying that the rider pulled with a strong arm, thus preventing his horse from winning.

Arsy-varsy (old), topsy-turvy,

heels over head. “The old mare pitched him arsy-varsy into the ditch."

'Arry, for Harry, a familiar general

term for a young costermonger dressed in his best clothes when

Artesian (Australian, popular),

Colonial beer. People in Gippsland, Victoria, use artesian just as Tasmanians use cascade, in

Artesian-Assay.

the sense of “beer,” because the one is manufactured from the celebrated artesian well at Sale, Gippsland, and the other from the cascade water.

Artful (popular), a word of wide

application to intimate trickery,

secrecy, and “dodges.” He'd an artful little bottle on an artful

little shelf, He was not "a little silly,” but a very knowing elf.

-H. Adams : Sister Hannah.

synonym for beautiful, symmetrical, or attractive. That only is artistic which, being made by the hand of man, indicates direct individual character and touch. The more machinery intervenes between the original pattern and the mere copy, the less art is there. The Sistine Madonna is truly a work of art, the most perfect chromo-lithographic copy of it is not. As used by many tradesmen, to indicate their cast works, machine-sawed furniture, &c., the word art or artistic is mere slang.

Artful dodgers (thieves), lodgers;

fellows who dare not sleep twice in the same place for fear of arrest.

Asā, asārla, asārlus (gypsy), thus,

so, in this manner.

Ash path (running), a running

path formed of pulverised cinders or black ash.

Artichoke (American thieves), a

low and old prostitute. It is curious to note that the French argot has the term cæur d'artichaut to denote a man or woman of a highly amatory disposition.

Paillasson, quoi! cæur d'artichaut, . C'est mon genre; un' feuille pour tout

l'monde, Au jour d'aujourd'hui j'gobe la blonde; Après d' main, c'est la brun' qu'i m'faut.

-Gill: La Muse à Bibi.

Ask bogy (old slang), an indecent

evasive exclamation used by sailors when not wishing to answer any question.

Article (popular), a poor specimen

of humanity; also, a wretched

animal. Articles (American thieves), a suit

of clothes; termed in the English slang, “togs, toggery, clobber."

Askew (old cant), this may be a

corruption of escuclle. Asking (turf), a jockey is said to

" ask” or “call upon " a horse when rousing him to greater exertion.

Articles of virtue (familiar) (i.e.,

vertu), virgins.

Assay (American thieves' slang),

commence, try it. From the expression to take the assay or essay, to taste wine to prove that it is not poisoned. Hence to try, to taste, trial or sample. Shakspeare uses the term.

Artistic. It is a common error

to suppose that artistic is a

Asses-At that.

(He) makes vow before his uncle, never

more To give the assay of arms against your majesty.

-Hamlet.

crucians, and used by Paracelsus and Van Helmont. It signifies a semi-spiritual self, which goes forth from the body.

Then there is the astral body, which is a nice thing to have, as it can be made responsible for all the doings of the carnal body, and can be pressed into service for any occasion when the latter would be of no account, even to the materialising of strawberries in January, or crockery at picnics when the necessary plates and cups have been forgotten. The only difficulty with the astral body is its unreliability. -Chicago Tribune.

Asses (printers). See DONKEYS.

Term used by pressmen for compositors, by way of retaliation in calling them “pigs." The animal creation has furnished a variety of slang terms for French printers in sufficient numbers to form a small menagerie. Thus a compositor is called “mulet ;” a master or foreman, "singe;" a newspaper, “ canard” (which also means false news); to have “one's monkey up," that is, to be angry, is “gober sa chèvre” or “ son boeuf," from the effect produced by the horns of the animal in the metaphoric operation; a letter which has fallen from the form is termed “chien;" a creditor, “loup;” an idle workman who disturbs others, “ours." "Poser une sangsue” is to correct one's fellow-workman's work in his absence. The German typos say that one receives his “herring" when he gets dismissed from his employ.

Atch, hatch (gypsy), to remain,

stay. “Sa mandy hatched to kūr, my rye""So I stayed to fight, my master.' Atmosphere (American, Boston),

a new slang phrase of society and literature thus explained by an American journal:

“The cant of the day is the word atmosphere, which has displaced 'tone.' When people tried to be exquisite they spoke of the tone of a novel, a club, or a person. Now it is atmosphere. A city is said to have a peculiar atmosphere when its people and their customs seem peculiar to the observer. Such words are very convenient when people have nothing particular to say, and mean to say it impressively." Atomy (popular), a small or

deformed person. Varied some

times to an “abortion.” Atrāsh (gypsy), afraid.

“An whenever the bavol pudered he was aträsh he'd pel a-lay pré the shingerballas o' the gūro”—“And whenever the wind blew he was afraid he would fall down on the horns of the bull."- The English Gypsies. At that (American), meaning

something in addition to, an

Astern (common), behind, in the

rear of; from the nautical term.

Asti (gypsy), would have, have

to; astis, can, possible ; asti si, it can be; nasti nesti, it is not possible, i.e., it cannot be.

Astral body (theosophist), a

phrase borrowed from the Rosi.

intensive. Said to have originated in Pennsylvania, and to be a translation of the German dazu. “She is beautiful and rich at thut,” “She is old and ugly at that.” It is also used upon a variety of occasions, without reason or necessity.

Now then, Mister, drinks all round, and cobblers at that.-Notes on Canada.

He's got a scolding wife, and an ugly one at that.- Bartlett.

The Mississippi's a mighty big drinkand a muddy one at that.-Idem.

The practice with one-half of the New Yorkers, of moving on the first of May, is an awful custom, and foolish at that.Major Downing

In Australia one talks of dear at that, weak at that, &c., some such word as "rate" or "price" being understood.

So we'll drain the flowing bowl,
'Twill not jeopardise the soul,
For it's only tea and weak at that.
-Keighly Goodchild: The Old

Felt Hat.

at least one who passes himself off as such; clever in getting round people, or turning diffi. culties (attorney, French à tour. ner); a loafer who pretends to a full knowledge of the legal meshes in which the lightfingered gentry are occasion. ally involved. The attorney is always ready to give advice in these and other matters for a small consideration in money, and failing that, for a glass of any kind of “tipple" at the nearest “pub." This distant relation to the great family of “limbs of the law" hangs about the favourite resorts of other kinds of “ practitioners," i.e., thieves. He is considered as a shining light by some, as an impostor by others, but what. ever the case may be, he distinguishes himself from the real attorney by the low rate of his charges.

Audit ale (Cambridge), very

strong ale supposed to be drunk on audit day. It is peculiar to Trinity College. About two centuries ago, some ale was brewed for that college which was so strong and good that the recipe was preserved with care, and the ale has ever since been made every year in a limited quantity. Professors and undergraduates are allowed to purchase a certain number of bottles. This ale will burn like spirits when thrown into the fire.

The table was spread with coffee, audit, devils, omelets, hare-pies, and all the other articles of the buttery.-Ouida: Held in Bondage.

Aunt. This term, as used in the

phrase at “my aunt's,” in a brothel, is obsolete. The old slang of the Elizabethan era, aunt, had the signification of a concubine, a prostitute, or a woman of loose morals, or, worse, a procuress. “Mine aunt will feed me,” was a common phrase at one time, meaning an agent who would procure virgins for the purposes of debauchery. Shakspeare and Ben Jonson use the word. The lark, that tirra-lirra chants,With, hey! with, hey! the thrush and

the jay :Are summer songs for me and my aunts, While we lie tumbling in the hay.

Shakspeare. The more modern expression for a concubine-who lives in a single man's house without either of them letting the world into the real secret of the connection — is “niece.” Thus many reverend gentlemen in Catholic countries, whose vows of chastity debar them from enjoying the sweets of paternity, are fain to content themselves with being the uncles of pretty “nieces.” A cure's

Audley or orderly (theatrical), a

term used by theatrical showmen when they wish to abridge the performance, in consequence of there being a sufficient number of persons waiting to fill "another house." The manager or parade master will then call out, John Orderly!

Auger (American), a prosy fel

low, a bore.

Aunt-Autem.

And giving the Australian grip
And good up-country fellowship
As bushmen.
-D. B. W. Sladen : A Summer

Christmas.

niece is a standing joke in France. The sons of the Pope -if these high ecclesiastical dignitaries have any, as they had in ancient times far more frequently than in the present -are called “ nephews.”

To go to “my aunt's,” to go to the privy. The expression is nowadays used chiefly by girls, who say among themselves, “I am going to my aunt,” or “I am going to my auntie.”

Australian flag, the (Anglo-Austra

lian slang), the bottom of a shirt. The Australian who lives up the country generally wears a belt instead of braces, the result being that when he exerts himself, there is usually a great fold of shirt protruding between his small clothes and his waistcoat, which Englishmen have called in scorn the Australian flag. The Cornstalk talks of him as a “new chum;" he talks of the Cornstalk as “ showing the Australian flag."

Autem or autum, a church. This

word, which is of the oldest cant, and is given by Harman, is probably the Yiddish a'thoumme, a church (tifle being the common term), which in ordinary conversation would be pronounced autem. It seems to have been at first always associated with clerical marriage, and as in cant Adam and Eve are terms for husband and wife, it is possible that Autem also owes something to Outem or Oudem, as Adam is pronounced in Yiddish. Thoumme or tume really means the forbidden orimpure(church). "A," or “ah,” is the vulgar Yiddish pronunciation for “Ein.” It is curious to note that in old French cant a church was termed entonne or entifle, tifle being Yiddish for church.

Australian grip (up-country Aus

tralian), a hearty shake of the hand (compare Masonic Grip.) The bushman shakes bands very heartily--a long grip with the whole hand, following three deep shakes. He does not crush your hand; but he is sarcastic about the “limp shakes” and “one-finger shakes” of people newly out from home.”

None the less
Was he a graceful, well-bred host,
But he was hearty in accost,

Autem bawler or autem-jet (old),

a parson. The more modern slang has the epithets, “ devil dodger,” and “sky pilot." At last Job explained the cause of my appearance, viz., his wish to pacify Dawson's conscience by dressing up one of the pals, whom the sinner could not recognise, as an autem bawler, and so obtaining him the benefit of the clergy without endangering the gang by his confession.-Bulwer Lytton : Pelham.

Autem cackle tub (old), conven

ticle, or Dissenters' meetinghouse.

Autem— Avails.

Autem cacklers (old), Dissenters.

It also means married women. Oh! where will be the culls of the bing,

A hundred stretches hence ?
The bene morts, who sweetly sing,

A hundred stretches hence ?
The autem-cacklers, autem coves,
The jolly blade who wildly roves;
And where the cuffer, bruiser, blowen,
And all the cops and beaks so knowin',
A hundred stretches hence ?

- A Hundred Stretches Hence.

The autum-mort finds better sport
In bowsing than in nigling,
This is bien bowse, this is bien bowse.

-R. Brome : A Jovial Crew. Autem prickears (old), a gene

ral name for Dissenters. (See AUTEM CACKLERS.)

Autem quavers (old), Quakers.

Autem quaver tub (old), a Quakers'

meeting-house.

Autem cove (thieves), a married

man. Autem dippers or divers (old),

Anabaptists, from the custom of dipping or baptizing the converts.

Autem divers (old), church pick

purses, and derisively, the churchwardens and overseers of the poor.

Author baiting (theatrical), a

sprightly pastime, invariably indulged in on the first night of an unsuccessful play. The process is as follows:“First.-Set your trap, and catch your author. In order to do so-call for him with spontaneity, and apparent enthusiasm.

“Second.-When you have caught him, that is, as soon as he puts his head before the curtain, go for him, shout, shriek, yell, bellow, hiss, emit a flood of 'obscure noises from filthy lips.'

“When you have degraded yourself to the level of the lowest standard of humanity, and when you have insulted the unfortu. nate dramatist by every means which your paucity of brains and plenitude of lungs can devise, your author baiting is com. plete."

Autem goglers (old), pretended

French prophets. Autem jet (old), one of the innumerable equivalents for a parson. Autem, a church ; jet, black, from the prevailing bue

in a parson's dress. Autem mort (old cant). A legal wife, whose marriage has been celebrated in a church. It does not apply to marriages celebrated by “hedge parsons” on the highway, as rendered memorable by the lines supposed to have been given to a pair of gypsy lovers by Dean Swift:"Beneath this tree in rainy weather, I've joined this whore and thief together; And none but He who wields the thunder Shall part this whore and thief asunder."

Av (gypsy), come; avakái, come

here. Full form me avava, I
come. “If tute'll av akai
mandy'll del tute a horra "-
“If you'll come here, I'll give
you a penny."

Av my little Romany chel,
Av along with mansar!
Av my little Romany chel,
Koshto si for mangue.

-Borrow.

Avails, profits or advantages, ab

breviated into rails, is the gratui

Avast-Avering.

ties given by visitors or guests in great houses to servants for civilities, attentions, or services rendered.

thumb!” Wongish is a corrupted form of angustrin, a finger or thumb, and it seems to be a synonym for a bit or small piece, because a digit forms a smaller portion of the hand. “I'll not bate a finger's breadth of it.” Vast, meaning a hand, appears to denote a greater extent or quantity, e.g., “a hand's breadth better," and is sometimes confused with vast, meaning a great deal. An old Yorkshire song says“But Tom got the best of this bargain

avast, And came off wi' a Yorkshireman's

triumph at last."

Avast (nautical), a sailor's phrase

for stop, cease, stay. According to Webster a corruption of the Dutch houd vast, hold fast.

Some etymologists connect it with the old cant term “bynge a waste.” Others ascribe its origin to the Italian basta, enough. This derivation seems plausible, from the circumstance that French workmen use basta with the same signification as English tars. Avast heaving a minute, Tom, and we'll light our pipes and gather round and spin cuff; what do you say, lad ? Rare Bits.

“No satisfactory explanation of this term, which occurs in the oldest English canting,” says C. G. Leland, “has ever been offered.” In gypsy, wast or vast (Hindu, hasta or hast) means a hand, and, as in English, it is intimately connected with using the hands or being ready. Chiv a vast adoi ! means exactly in Romany, “put a hand there!” “be alert!” It is equivalent to “lend a band!” It will be readily un derstood that the injunction to lend a hand might easily become a synonym for “attend there!” “observe!” or “look out!" It is to be remarked that in modern English, gypsy hatch a wongish! means “stop a bit !” or, literally, “stop a

Wright gives vast as meaning a waste or deserted space. In the song the actual meaning is that the victor beat his antagonist not vastly but by a little, or “by a hand," i.e., “barely," as the succeeding lines clearly prove :“For though between dead horses there's

not much to choose, Yet Tom's were the better by the hide

and four shoes."

Avast in old cant has the signification of away.

Avast to the pad, let us bing.-7. Middleton : Roaring Girle.

Avering, the trick of a beggar

boy who strips himself and goes naked into a town with a false story of his being cold and robbed of his clothes, to move compassion and get other clothes. This is called areris and to go

an avering.-Old Manuscript in the Lansdowne Collection, quoted in Wright's “ Archaic Dictionary."

The word is evidently gypsy, from aver, to come or go, as further appears by averis, is or 08 being (as is common in Indian dialects) a suffix to form a noun (vide Av).

Avo, āwo, auwo, āwali, avali

(gypsy), yes. Avali is rare in England, but it may be commonly heard in Hungary.

Lel a chūmer del a chûmer
Avo, avali!
Buti, buti, sār pa tūte,

Miro kāmlo zi. Take a kiss-give a kiss-yes-yes. Many and many, all for you, my dear heart.

-Janet Tuckey.

Awful. This word does duty in

fashionable slang for “very." Girls and women are no longer “very pretty” or “very hand. some,” but “awfully pretty” or “awfully handsome." The expression is sometimes varied into “dreadfully.” An awful shame or pity, or a dreadful shame or pity, are common expressions both among the high and low vulgar. “An awfully fine day" is a favourite expletive among young and old, but especially among the young. All these, and countless other perversions of the word, might fitly be described as awfully destructive of the grace, elegance, and purity of the English language. In like manner very laughable farces are declared to be screamingly funny or excruciatingly funny; as if very were no longer an English word. “The lumberer very rarely mixes in polite society, but when he does he never fails to make his mark. Only a few weeks ago he was introduced to —, and that effusive young lady was quite charmed with him.

""I think him awfully nice,' she said ; 'I am quite taken with him.

"And so were they all, until a subsequent examination of the sideboard disclosed the fact that a considerable portion of the plate had likewise been taken with him."

Avoirdupois lay (old), stealing

brass weights off shop counters.

Awake (general), on one's guard, warned, put up to.

“A common expression of the family people;' thus a thief will say to his accomplice on perceiving that the person they are about to rob is aware of their intention and upon his guard, 'Stow it, the cove's awake.' To be awake to any scheme, deception, or design, means, generally, to see through or comprehendit.”—Prom Vaux's Memoirs.

Awer (gypsy), but. This recalls

the German aber, but it is probably only a form of the affirmative avo.

The Philadelphia Press quotes “a charming old lady's advice to girls—very excellent advice indeed, to the sweet-faced damsels who are making their first bows to society this winter. Firstly, what to avoid :

Baboo-Bach.

Baboo (Anglo-Indian), from the

Bengali and Hindu Bābū, which is properly a term of respect, like Master or Mr. Its application in this sense is now confined to Lower Bengal, though C. P. Brown states that it is also used in Southern India for My Lord or Your Honour. In Bengal and elsewhere it is often used among Anglo-Indians with a slight savour of disparagement, as characterising a superficially cultivated but too often effeminate Bengali. From the extensive employment of the class to which the term was applied as a title, in the capacity of clerks in English offices, the word has come often to signify a native clerk who writes English. Anglo-Indian Glossary. But I'd sooner be robbed by a tall man

who showed me a yard of steel, Than be fleeced by a sneaking Baboo with a peon and badge at his heel.

-Sir A. C. Lyall: The Old

Pindaree.

Writer," and then contrives to happily unite all their characteristics with most unexceptionable gravity and skill. It is said that a converted Baboo, wishing to combine devotion with kindly feeling, ended a letter to an English lady-patron, to whom he supplied meat, with this expression : “Your affectionate butcher, in Christ.” Of late years many amusing specimens of Baboo-English have been collected and published. There is a work called “ The Baboo and Other Tales,” by Augustus Prinsep.

Bābus, bawbus (gypsy), grand

father. “Māndy dikked yer bābus a chinnin koshters kāliko adré lestis tan"_“I saw your grandfather a cutting woods (making skewers) yesterday, in his tent."

Baby-herder (American cowboy

slang), a nurse for an infant.

Baby-paps (thieves), rhyming

slang for caps.

Bacca-pipe (popular), old - fash

ioned way of wearing whiskers. The bacca-pipe was the whisker curled in tiny ringlets.

Baboo - English (Anglo-Indian).

This term is applied to the peculiar English which is rather written than spoken by the natives in India. It is difficult to describe, not being specially ungrammatical or faulty as regards orthography, and yet it is the drollest dialect of English known. It is most humorous when the writer has made him. self familiar with, let us say Shakspeare and the Referee, the Bible and the “Slang Dictionary," Artemus Ward, Milton, Punch, and the “Polite Letter

Bach, to, batch, baching (Ame

rican), from the word bachelor. To form a party and live without women's society or aid in the woods or by the sea-side. The expenses entailed on young men who mix with ladies in society at the watering-places

in America are great, and often out of all proportion to their means, the natural result being that bachelors take to the forests or sea-surf, and live in tents, enjoying themselves thoroughly without the aid of “the muslin,” for half, or quarter the money which they must otherwise have expended on treating ladies to carriages, juleps and cobblers after bathing, billiards and ten pins, ball tickets and suppers.

Baching, a delightful Western amusement which pleases the doctors. Never bach? Well, it's a great scheme. Can have just what your appetite craves, and at a nominal price, and there is no woman around to find fault and comment upon the lay-out.--California Newspaper,

grazing country, often very poor, let to the squatters (or graziers) in immense tracts at a nominal rent. One often hears of a man holding a thousand or two thousand square miles. Mr. Fisher, a South Australian, recently put upon the market, in the northern territory of South Australia, blocks to the aggregate of thirty or forty thousand square miles. In very remote parts, crownlands are sometimes leased at sixpence a square mile. The two greatest difficulties to contend with (besides droughts and floods) are “getting up stores,” and getting to market. Cattle are sometimes driven all the way from the Gulf of Carpentaria to Melbourne, the whole length of Australia, for sale, and some cattle which had come this journey had been six months and three weeks en route.

Back (general) to get one's back

up, to get angry, the idea being taken from a cat, that always arches its back when irritated. “Don't get your back up,” “Keep your hair on,” “Don't lose your shirt," are synony mous expressions for an exhortation to keep one's temper.

Back block (Australian), the

country outside the margin of the settled districts. Like the brief flight of a sparrow upon a

wintry night, Out of the frost and and darkness into

the warm and light, Is the advent of a stranger in the back

blocks out West, Here to-night, and gone to-morrow, after

food, roof, and rest.
-D. B. W. Sladen: Out West in

Queensland.
These back blocks are, as a rule,

Back-breakers. According to the evidence taken before the Children's Employment Commission, the ganger who contracts to do the work hires the smallest and cheapest children, selecting the strongest and most willing of the gang as a back-brcaker, whose duty it is to set an example of activity to the rest and “put them along."

Back-cheat (old cant), a cloak.

Back-cloth (theatrical), scenes in

a theatre or music hall.

Back-door-Back mark.

Backhanders (common), one who

keeps back the decanter in order to hand himself a second glass before he passes it. Also, a drink out of turn.

Long experience has shown us that to get small advantages over us gives the Scotch so much pleasure that we should not think of grudging them the mild satisfaction, just as a kindly host affects not to notice a valued guest, who, he observes, always helps himself to an innocent backhander.—The Saturday Review.

Back handicap (running), the

process of revising a time handicap, the time being reckoned from the second the “limit man" is sent off.

The back-cloth is the well-known “wood land glade" that Mr. de Pinna, the mana. ger, invariably selects as the scene of these combats, and three rounds are fought under the Marquis of Queensberry rules. -Evening News. Back - door work (popular),

sodomy. Backed (old slang), dead, with

“one's toes turned up." Back end (racing), the last two

months of the racing season.

Lowestoft, though amongst the arrivals, shirked some of his engagements last back end.-Star.

A back eniler, consequently, is a horse which appears on the racecourse at the end of the season. Lord Bradford's horse evidently likes the Doncaster course, and he is undoubt. edly a back ender. It must be for these reasons that he is so well backed, by the public be it understood, the stable rarely making any sign until the last moment. Sporting Times. Backers (a racing technical term), the general body of the betting public who wager on horses winning, in contradistinction to the more limited society of the "ring” or “bookmakers,” who bet against horses.

This term is also frequently applied to coal carriers, whippers, or heavers.

Mr. Dudley Baxter, M.A., states in National Income that a coal backer is considered past work at forty.

Back-house, or backward (com

mon), a privy. So called from being usually situated at the rear of house. Soldiers also call it “the rear," from asking leave to fall to the rear of the company.

Backing or turning-on (Ameri

can thieves' slang), a very usual kind of cheating, by which a man is victimised in such a manner as to render himself liable to punishment.

Back jump (thieves), a back win

dow. The window seems to be considered by thieves only in the light of a convenient means of escape, hence the expression “jump."

Back-handed turn (Stock Ex

change), having made an unprofitable bargain.

Back mark (running), the mark

nearest the scratch-sometimes, of course, the scratch itself. A

Back mark-Back slum.

man is said to be “backmarked" in handicapping when the handicapper sets him back, or gives him less start than he has hitherto had.

Backsheesh (Anglo-Indian).

From the Persian bakhshish, a gratuity, a "tip.” What an honour to think that I am to be elevated to the throne, and to bring the seat in Parliament as backsheesh to the Sultan.-Thackeray: Pendennis.

Back of beyond, the (American),

a mythical country where large fortunes are to be made-a Tom Tiddler's ground.

I sat down to my breakfast on the morning of the second day of April 188-, with no more notion that I should find myself at dinner-time that day at sea, bound on a voyage, the story of which I now propose to write, than I have, seeing that I am come in safety home again, of setting out before to-morrow to seek my fortune in the uttermost part of the mysterious country known as the Back of Beyond.-W. A. Paton: Down the Is. lands.

Back scuttle, to (thieves), to enter

by the back way.

Back slang (Australian convicts),

the going stealthily to or into a place, sneaking into it. Probably taken out to Australia by the convicts transported thither, though it may have originated there.

(Thieves), to enter or come out of a house by the back door, or to go a circuitous or private way through the streets in order to avoid any particular place in the direct road, is termed back-slanging it. Vaux's Memoirs. Back slang also means slang produced by spelling words backwards, e.g., "nael ekom" for lean moke, “occabot” for tobacco.

Back-slanging is quite aristocratic up the country in Australia, where, unless it is a formal visit, it is almost the universal custom for any one of any rank to drive straight into the stables of the house he is going to, call for a groom (or quite as often a boy) to take the horses, and then walk round to the house.

Back-seam (popular), to be down

on one's back-seam is to be at one's last breath.

Back seats (American), a very

common slang expression signifying reserve or an obscure and modest position. It originated in a saying of President Johnson in 1868, that “in the work of reconstruction traitors should take back seats." General Shelby of rebel notoriety says :"Let it be distinctly understood at St. Louis and everywhere else that, while the issues of the war are past and forgotten, we take back nothing, and there is no use of their expecting us to do so."

That's true. You don't even take back seats. In the Cleveland variety show every man.jack of you is in the bald-headed row.-Chicago Tribune.

Back slum (Australian convicts'

slang), a back room, a back entrance. Probably taken out to Australia by the convicts transported thither.

In ordinary colloquial English, back slum simply means a 59

Back slum-Bacon.

Back talk (popular), no back

talk, i.e., speaking frankly.

“back street” or a "bad neigh. bourhood,” but Vaux in his Memoirs says that among the Australian lays back slum is a back room, also the back entrance to any house or premises; thus, “We'll give it 'em on the back slum," means “We'll get in at the back door.”

Back-tommy (tailors), a piece of

cloth used to cover the stays at the waist.

Back-track (American); going

back, retreating, eating one's words; to take the back-track, to recede from one's position.

The first law of self-preservation has adınonished Mr. Douglas that he has gone as far in the slavery concessions to the South as he can possibly go, and that if he would save himself at home he must take the back-track.- New York Herald, December 26, 1857.

I turned to Mac and said, “Come, Mac, what's the use of fooling ; come with me."

“No back-tracks, Texas. I'll stay here." --R. Morley: The Western Avernus.

Back staircase (popular), a de

risive term for a bustle, called by maid-servants “bird cage,” or “ canary cage." Parisian ladies had formerly the unassuming polisson, superseded under the Third Empire by the more “all round” crinoline, brought into fashion by the Empress, and which became so much the rage all the world over as to be worn even by African belles, whose sole adornment it frequently was. English girls of the lower classes, who could not afford to procure the “real article," would affix wooden hoops to their petticoats. Scoffing Parisians now term the modern “ dress improver”-s0 elongated, painfully pointed, and almost horizontal _" un lieutenant” (a pun on “ tenant lieu de ce qui manque") “nuage” (“parcequ'il cache la lune," lune being slang for the posterior), and “volapuk.”

Back up (public schools), to call out, as, for instance, when a præfect requires a fag.

Backy (tailors), the man working

immediately behind the speaker. The term is much affected by “slop cutters.”

Bacon (common), the body; "to save one's bacon," to escape a castigation; “to baste one's bacon," is to strike one ; (theatrical), to “pull bacon."

The late Mr. H. J. Byron, the actor, very popular in his time, says this phrase has reference to a grimace which he used to make, and which was called pulling a bacon face, or, in short, pulling bacon, but the ex. pression is not in general use.

Backstairs influence (common),

a disparaging term for occult, intriguing influence, There is no rule of the service so strict that it will not yield to backstairs, or other influence.-Truth, April 26, 1888.

Bad break (American), an out

break, outrage, turbulent conduct. “Sam," he says, "you've made one or two had breaks since you've been in town." -F. Francis : Saddle and Moccasin.

Bad egg (popular), a rascal.

There is some philosophy in the remark that a man may be a bad egg, and yet not be a nuisance unless he gets broke.Sporting Times. But one gray-haired old veller shmiled

crimly und bet Dat Breitmann vould prove a pad egg for dem yet.

- Ballads of Hans Breitmann. There was, however, a considerable feeling amongst others there that he was a bad ere, and they even went so far as to suggest that the sooner he had a bullet in him the better.-A. Staveley Hill: From Home to Home.

The term is used in America to express a man of unsound or doubtful character. It became popular about 1849-50. If the corresponding slang term existed in China, a bad egg would, on the contrary, mean a very honest fellow.

cant word for a house), who robs a man after a woman has enticed him into bed.

In schools it is the fate of red-haired boys to be nicknamed after this animal. (Naval) badger-bag, the fictitious Neptune who visits the ship on her crossing the line, and is so called from his badgering the uninitiated. Formerly the term was applied to a huckster or retailer, from badjulate, to carry, Latin bajulare. To overdraw one's badger is slang for overdrawing one's banking account, a play on the expression drawing the badger. His checks no longer drew the cash, Because, as his comrades explain'd in

flash, He had overdrawn his badger.

--Hood : Miss Kilmansegg. Also applied in old cant to a footpad who in old days robbed persons near a river, subsequently throwing the body of the victim into the water; a common prostitute.

Badge coves (old cant), persons

existing on the bounty of the parish.

Bad give-away (American), in

cautious betrayal, lapsus.

It was a bad give-away when a temper. ance lecturer absent-mindedly tried to blow the foam off a glass of water. - American Newspaper.

Badgeer (Anglo-Indian), from the

Persian bād - gēr, wind-catch. A contrivance for bringing air down into, and for cooling and ventilating a house. A wind tower.

Bad halfpenny (Australian con

victs' slang), a fruitless errand, no go. Probably taken out by the convicts transported thither. Vaux in his Memoirs says :When a man has been upon any errand, or attempting any object which has proved

Badger (American thieves), a

“ panel” thief (panel being probably a corruption of panny, a

Bad halfpenny—Bag.

unsuccessful or impracticable, he will say on his return, “It is a bad halfpenny" - meaning that he has returned as he went.

A ne'er-do-well is called a bad halfpenny, because the ne'erdo-well of the family is so difficult to get rid of; be is said " to turn up like a bad halfpenny,” because imperfect coins are constantly being traced back to and forced back on the person who circulates them.

the jail were the death-knell of his badness. He made no “ John Branch plays” after this, but attended faithfully to his herd, and the bare mention of the name of Mad Milton was sufficient to keep him quiet whenever he forgot his defeat and essayed the role of bad man.- Detroit Free Press.

“ Bad man" for a cruel murderer is indeed a very mild way of putting it. If the euphemism were carried on, a murderer pure and simple would probably be styled a naughty man.

Bad match twist (barbers), red

hair and black whiskers.

Bad lot (common), a person of

indifferent character. The term seems to be derived from an auctioneering phrase. It is often applied to girls who have, as the French term it, “la cuisse gaie.”

Badminton (prize ring), blood; properly a kind of claret cup. To “tap the badminton, or claret," is to draw blood.

The girl shuddered. “I always thought you were a bad lot." The chorus girl was trying to pluck up her courage.

“Well, well-I was once as pretty as you, and a deal prettier, and was made more fuss with." -Ally Sloper's Half Holiday.

A very handsome girl she may be, but a bad lot, as her father was.-R. D. Blackmore: Erema.

Bag (common), any kind of purse when empty ; to give the bag,

i.e., to dismiss, run away. When of oof they had bereft him, his

own tart had promptly left him, And gone off with some one else upon

a drag. It was cruel to forsake him; but, as

settling day would break him, She had given him, quite cheerfully, the bag.

- Sporting Times. (Printers and sailors), a vulgar term for a pint or pot of beer; “ Come and have a bag ” would be a form of invitation given.

Bad man (American). This has

a special meaning in the West, where it indicates a heartless, cruel murderer. Rowdies and bullies in their boasting often describe themselves as “hard bad men from Bitter Creek.”

In vain he begged for mercy. Milton was obdurate, and refused to be moved by the would-be bad man's prayers. He led him into the post tied up like a broncho steer, and the jeers of the citizens as poor Dosy shambled past them on his way to

Bag, to (familiar), to steal or

seize.

The shameful way in which our ships are being bagged without the slightest scruple to suit private ends becomes our wretched system of naval government in. comparably. The public, who have to pay

Bag—Bag of nails.

the piper pretty sweetly for the Spithead pageant, can hardly be expected to look without wonder or disgust at the barefaced partiality displayed by the Admiralty in appropriating vessels. -- Modern Society.

Also a phrase in common use signifying the expansion of garments by frequent wear. “ You men are so lucky," a fair maiden

said, Discussing the question of dress, “You're ne'er burdened with petticoats,

corsets, nor shawls, Which to us are a source of distress." “Yes, I know," said a youth who'd been

waiting for this, An argument ready to seize“What you've said is all true, but there's

one point you miss,
Your pants never bag at the knees."

Bagging (northern counties), used

of food between meals ; in Lancashire especially, an afternoon meal, i.e., what is taken about in a bag. See CARPET BAGGING.

Lancashire adopts the whole-board or partial-board system very extensively. The local term of bagging implies bread and cheese, or pies; and there are all the varieties of board and lodging, dinner of potatoes and bacon with butter-milk, bagging in the forenoon and afternoon, dinner and lunch, and rations allowed for women.--Chambers's Journal.

Bagging or jockeying the over

(cricketers), the practice of batsmen who manage their running in such a manner as to get all

the bowling to themselves. Bagman (general), a commercial

traveller. A name formerly given to commercial travellers from their travelling on horseback and carrying their samples or wares in saddle-bags ; now used only in a somewhat contemptuous manner.

Baggage smasher (American), a

word with two meanings. The first applies to men who hang about the railway stations to steal luggage, the second to the railway porters and others who in America handle trunks and boxes, &c., with extraordinary carelessness. " I feel depressed to-night," remarked a large, down-town trunk manufacturer to his wife. “I think I have a touch of malaria.” “I fancy it will soon pass away," replied the lady, without much concern. “Why don't you go around to the Grand Central Station, and watch them smash baggage for an hour. That will revive you!"-New York Sun.

A London thief who steals luggage off carriages or cabs by climbing up behind, is termed a “ dragsman.”

The late lord came to London with four post-chaises and sixteen horses. The present lord travels with five bagmen in a railway carriage. - W. M. Thackeray: Pendennis.

Bagnio (old), a bawdy house.

Bag of nails (American), the same

as hurrah's nest or whore's nest. Everything in confusion, and topsyturvy. The sign of the Bag of Nails in England has been said by inventive and imaginative etymologists to be derived from “the Baccha

Bagged (American thieves), imprisoned, “ scooped in," i.e., taken in, victimised.

nals."

Bags—Bāk.

"I may bid as high as your pintle, and make you squint like a bag of nails," replied the intruder, “though you rub us to whit for it."-On the Trail.

have the bags on would surely be a more appropriate metaphor in this instance.

Bags, to take the (athletic), to

go hare in a paper chase.

Ba-ha (tailors), bronchitis.
Bai, by (gypsy), a sleeve, a bough.

Bags (general), trousers. The

synonyms are “kicks," "sit upons,” “hams.” Sometimes rudely called “bumbags."

Then the throng begins to yell,

But I scatters 'em pell-mell,
Be their clothing manly bags or female

skirts;
With my staff I goes for all,

Both the big 'uns and the small,
For I'm bound to give sich rabble their
"deserts."

-Funny Folks. "But, hollo!" he cried, as he caught sight of his legs. “Parsons don't wear tight tweed bags." ... Jack had to un. pack his portmanteau, and get out his even. ing inexpressibles.-Chambers's Journal.

When the pattern of the bags is very staring they are called “howling bags.” The synonyms “unmentionables" and "inexpressibles," though generally used jocosely, must have been coined by people with indecent imaginations who think more of the contents than the container, and who would cover with petti. coats the nakedness of statues or incase the legs of pianos in "inexpressibles.” It may, how. ever, have been invented by ladies who will blush at the word chemise, but who do not scruple to show themselves in public in such a décolleté state as to suggest that only the lower half of that garment has been retained.

To “have the bags of',” is to be of age and one's own master, , to have plenty of money. To

Bail (Australian Blackfellows'

lingo), no, not. The following is a specimen of the pidginEnglish stuffed with Blackfellows' words used by the whites on stations in their intercourse with the aborigines :

“ Too much big-fellow water, bail ply (fly), come up; bail pind (find) him," answers the aboriginal, adding, however, the question, "you patter potchum" (eat possum).

“Yohi” (yes), said John, rather doubt. fully, for he is not sure how his stomach will agree with the strange meat.-A. C. Grant.

(Society), to give leg bail and land security, a phrase for running away, decamping.

Bake Baker-legged.

“Rya del mandy a panjer.” “What for?" “ For bak." "For bock, kek-but mandy'll dee it to tute to kin a cigarrus."

“Master give me fiver (5 cents)." “ What for?” “For bak.” “For bock (beer), no --but I'll give it to you to buy a cigar." Gypsy Notes in America (11S.).

Bake, to (Winchester), to rest, to

enjoy "dolce far niente;” (common), to fumigate a room.

Baked (Australian), tired out.

Slang delights in puns. Because meat put in the oven is said to be baked when it is “done,” a man who is “done up," or “ done,” is said to be baked. This distinctly “slang" use of baked is quite different from baked in the sense of “heated" or “hot,” in which even ladies often use it. In the English slang only “half-buked" means imbecile.

the care of discovering whether there is not in this term an ironical allusion to the way in which they make the execrable bread we are forced to eat everywhere in the country. - Baron E. Mandat Grancey : Cow-Boys and Colonels.

The writer of the above had heard the word loafer, and having inquired its meaning, innocently translated it as baker. In a short time baker will, perhaps, be current as a joke, and a few years hence some one learned in Americanisms may possibly declare it to be the original word, or at least a well-established American term, and one recently heard by him in America. (Winchester College), a baker is a cushion, generally a large green one, used by prefects and by boys who have studies of their own. The name is also given to a small red cushion used at chapel. Formerly it meant a portfolio. A“ baker layer" is a junior who has to take a prefect's baker in and out of hall at meals. The term was probably obtained by punning on the connotation of the word loaf.

Baked Spanish (common). A

Spanish means a large Spanish onion. Maria looks very nervous like at this, but told me afterwards if it hadn't been as she tried to forget of the young man, and only to remember there was tripe for supper and a baked Spanish, she'd have fainted right clean away.-Fun: Murdle Visiting.

Bākelo (gypsy), hungry. "Shan tu

bākelo?” _“Are you hungry?”

Baker (American), a word dis

covered or unconsciously invented by the Baron E. de Mandat Grancey. We got there without unduly exciting the idle curiosity of the bakers around us. In America they call the habitual man. about-town, the lounger--baker. I leave to a more learned etymologist than myself

Baker-kneed (workmen), an in

kneed man, one whose knees knock together-the position in which bakers stand to knead their bread tending to make their knees incline inwards.

His voice had broken to a gruffish squeak, he had grown blear-eyed, baker kneed, and gummy-Coleman : Poetical Vagaries.

Baker-legged (see BAKER-KNEED).

... His body crooked all over, big belly'd, baker-legg'd.--L'Estrange: Life of Æsop.

Baker's dozen—Balance.

Baker's dozen (common), thir.

teen. Originally the London bakers supplied the retailers with thirteen loaves to the dozen, so as to make sure of not giving short weight. About a baker's dozen of cows and calves were collected.-P. Francis : Saddle and Moccasin,

Baking-place (Winchester), a sort

of couch or sofa, an important article of furniture for those who delight in baking, that is, doing nothing.

Bākro, bokro (gypsy), a sheep or

lamb; bakengro, a shepherd.

To “ give a man a baker's dozen" is to give him a good beating, to give him fult measure in that respect.

Bal (gypsy), a hair (Hindu, bal).

Bālia, bāllor, hairs; bālnoi, hairy.

Baker, to spell, an expression for attempting anything difficult. In old spelling-books, baker was the first word of two syllables, and when a child came to it, he thought he had a hard task before him.

If an old man will marry a young wife, why then-why then-why then-he must spell baker.-Longfellow : The NewEngland Tragedies.

Balaam-box (printing shops), used by compositors to designate the receptacle for silly paragraphs about monstrosities in art or nature; or old jokes and anecdotes kept in reserve to lengthen out pages or columns which might otherwise remain vacant. The phrase originated in the comparatively remote days when newspaper editors were sometimes at a loss to fill up the allotted space at their command. An essay for the Edinburgh Review, in the old unpolluted English language, would have been consigned by the editor to his balaam-basket. - Hall: Modern English.

Bakes (American), one's original

stake in a game, a juvenile term; as “I will stop when I get my bakes,' said by a boy playing marbles” (Bartlett), in reference possibly to a baker's not always getting his bake safely out of the oven.

Bakester (Winchester), one who bakes-that is, a sluggard, an idle fellow who is fond of lying down doing nothing. (Provincial), a cognomen for a baker.

Balaclava day (military), pay

day, a survival of the Crimean war. The day on which men having got their pay took it down to Balaclava, the great base of supply, where purchases could best be made from sutlers who had their hut shops there.

Baking-leave (Winchester), permission to “bake"—that is, to sit in a study or “pigeon-hole."

Balance (American), the rest or

remainder of anything. Bartlett says that it is “a mercantile

Bald-faced stag (popular), a term

of derision applied to a baldheaded man.

word originally introduced into the ordinary language of life by the Southern people, but now improperly used throughout the United States to signify the remainder of a thing. The balance of an account is a term well authorised and proper, but we also frequently hear such expressions as the balance of a speech, the balance of the day, &c." It seems doubtful whether balance can ever be quite correct unless it signifies an exactly equal half. I hit on her affections for the balance of the season.

-Negro Song of 1843.

Bald-headed row (American), the

front seats in the pit of a theatre. It is an old joke in the United States, that whenever there is a great “leg-piece," or a “frogsalad" (i.e., a ballet with unusual opportunities for studying anatomy), the front seats are always filled with veteran roués, or “Uncle Neds.”

Baldober (see BALDOWER), a director, or leader. In German thieves' slang the director or planner of a robbery, who gets a double share.

Balbus (university), Latin prose

composition. A term derived from Arnold's “Latin Prose Composition,” a well - known text-book in which Balbus (who does not connect in his memory this odions individual with the magister's cane ?) occurs at the beginning of the exercises and on every page, sometimes over and over again, right through to the end of the book.

Baldower(Yiddish), head-speaker.

One who conveys information; a spy. Connected with this are baldowern, to direct, plan, spy, lurk, observe (in Dutch slang baldoveren), also baldorer, a spy or traitor.

Balderdash (old), a term applied

to adulterated wine, and to senseless talk or writing.

Bales, a little drive with (popu

lar); Bales is the policeman who superintends the Black Maria,

or prison van. I was fined forty shillings, but not forty

pence Had I in my pocket to pay, So into the p'lice van soon bundled was 1, But to Bales I sung all the way. --Oh, ain't I having a day. Bertini,

Marlborough Street.

Bald-face (American), new whis.

key.

Bald-faced shirt (American cow. boys), a white, i.e., muslin or linen shirt. So called because bald-faced, or Hereford cattle have white faces.

Bale-up (common), an equivalent

of “fork out,” that is, pay, give the money instantly, a phrase imported from the Australian bushrangers.

Ball (prison), prison allowance ;

six ounces of meal; a drink. A ball of fire in popular slang is a glass of brandy, in allusion to the fieriness and pungency of the wretchedly bad spirit sold as brandy to the lower classes.

Ballad-basket (old cant), a street

singer.

Ballast (common), money. Some

of the slang synonyms for money were or are—“Oof, ooftish, stumpy, muck, brass, loaver, blunt, needful, rhino, bustle, cole, gilt, dust, dimmock, feathers, brads, chinks, pieces, clinkers, stuff, clumps, chips, coin, shekels, corks, dibbs, dinarly, horsenails, gent, huckster, mopusses, palm oil, posh, ready, Spanish, rowdy."— Barrère : Argot and Slang.

A rich man is said to be wellballasted. A man is said to “lose his ballast” when his judgment fails him, or when he becomes top-heavy from conceit.

pulling the long bow. It is said to have originated in a story of a man who boasted that he had fought a duel in a balloon and brought down his adversary, balloon and all. But this was a veritable occurrence, as appears by the St. James's Gazette of August 5, 1887– “Since General Boulanger's conditions are unacceptable to M. Ferry, and as the usages of duellists seem conflicting on this subject, perhaps these eminent men might try a duel on the very reasonable conditions agreed on by M. de Grandpré and M. le Pique in Paris in 1808. These gentlemen having quarrelled about a lady, agreed to have it out in balloons, each party to fire at the other's balloon and try and bring him down. A month was taken to build two similar balloons; and on a fine day the pair ascended with their seconds from the Tuileries gardens, armed with blunderbusses. When they were about half a mile up, and some eighty yards apart, the signal was given, and M. le Pique missed. M. de Grandpré, however, made a successful shot, and his opponent's balloon went down with tremendous rapidity, both principal and second being instantly killed-much to the satisfaction of the spectators."

Balls (popular), “to make balls of

it,” to make a mistake, to get into trouble.

Balls' all (popular), all rubbish.

Ballooning (Stock Exchange). When stock is increased to a figure far beyond its real value it is said to be ballooned, and the operation by which this is effected is called ballooning. The means by which this result is attained are cooked or otherwise favourable reports, fictitious sales, and so on.

Ballum-rankum (old), a ball where

all the dancers are thieves, prostitutes, or other very degraded persons, as in the “buff-ball,” in which both sexes join without clothing.

Ballooning it (American), exag

gerating, indulging in bounce,

Bally (society), a word in use

among the young men of the

Bangle-Bangy.

The freshman reluctantly turned the key,
Expecting a Somophore gang to see,
Who, with faces masked and bangers stout,
Had come resolved to smoke him out.

-Yale Literary Magazine, vol. xx. (Popular), an obvious untruth.

If the Pope's champions are to be bang. sters in our very change-houses, we shall soon have the old shavelings back again. -Scott: The Abbot.

Bang straw (provincial), a barn

thresher, but applied to farm servants in general.

Bang-tailed (popular), short

tailed.

“These little bang-tailed sinners any good ?” said Drysdale, throwing some cock-a-bondies across the table.-T. Hughes: Tom Brown at Oxford.

Bangle (Anglo - Indian). This

word, now generally used in England, is from the Hindu bangri. The original is applied to a bracelet of coloured glass, but it is now extended to all kinds of such ornaments for the wrist when in ring-form or of one piece of metal. Hear their wrists and ankles jangle, With many a brass and silver bangle; Dresses sprayed with many a spangle, So for living fish they angle.

-The Mild Hindoo. Miss H. wore her blazing Cashmere shawl; her great brooch ...; and her great bracelets (she used to say, “ I am given to understand they are called bangles, my dear, by the natives ") decorated the sleeves round her lean old hands.— Thackeray: The Newcomes.

Bang-up (common), fine, first-rate.
Synonymous with “ slap-up."
To bang-up, to make first-rate,
stylish.
Pat to his neck-cloth gave an air
In style, and à la militaire ;
His pocket, too, a kerchief bore,
With scented water sprinkled o'er;
Thus banged-up, sweeten'd, and clean

shav'd,
The sage the dinner-table braved.

- Combe : Dr. Syntax. Jem drove me in a gig of the regular bang-up, stay-for-nothing, rumtumtiddity order.-Punch,

Nothing more thoroughly bang-up and highgeewoa rollicking than the run which the Evergreen had last Thursday: --Punch.

A bang-up cove is a dashing fellow who spends his money freely. Bartlett gives bang-up as American, but it has long been common in England, where it originated. “Bangs Banagher," beats the world.

It is curious that the Hindu word bangri exists in England as the gypsy term for a waistcoat, i.e., originally a mere ring, belt, or circlet of cloth, like a cummerbund.

Bang off (common), to write a

letter bang off, in a hurry.

Bangster, a provincialism for the

victor.

If you are so certain of being the bang ster, so very certain, I mean, of sweeping stakes.-Sir Walter Scott: St. Ronan's Well.

Bang up to the mark (popular),

in fine or dashing style.

Also, a loose woman, a bully.

Bangy (Winchester) brown; brown clothes considered as

Bangy-wallah-Banting.

are so dangerous, or so much dreaded.

vulgar; brown sugar. Pro. bably from bangy, dull, gloomy,

an adjective used in Essex. Bangy-wallah (Anglo-Indian), a

carrier of parcels.

The lady's luggage was particularly scant, and the bangy - wallahs, as they are called, who carry the boxes, had an easy time of it.-Mark Lemon : Falkner Lyle. Banjee (Anglo-Indian), a band of

music.

Banners (American), newsboys'

slang. The word is explained in the following extract from the Chicago Tribune :"Oh, I say, Figsy,” cried one, “ain't yer gittin' stood off a good deal on yer banner this week?"

“Yer'd better dry up, Slimmy, or may be yer wouldn't like me to mention how yer sponges yer eatin's."

“Eatin's," explained the matron, “are the meals which they get down-town. Banners are the fees which they pay for their meals and lodgings at the home. That word is in use all over the United States, and I have never found a newsboy yet who could tell me where it came from."

Banjo, the name given by the

patients in one at least of the London hospitals to a bed-pan, from its somewhat fanciful resemblance to the well-known and now fashionable musical instrument.

Bank, to (thieves'), to put in a

place of safety. “To bank the swag," to secure the booty. Also, to bank is to go shares.

Hotten. Bankers (old), clumsy boots and

shoes. Bankrupt cart (old), a one-horse

chaise ; so called, it is said, by Lord Mansfield, from being so frequently used on Sunday jaunts by extravagant tradesmen. Bank sneak (American), “bank

sneak thieves," men of education, good address, and fault less attire, who in gangs of three or four engage the attention' of the officers of a bank while one of their number commits a robbery. No thieves

Banter, to (American). The preli

minary discussion or pour-parler which precedes a bargain is called a banter or bantering. It is derived from banter, to make a jest of or to challenge.

CHATHAM, N.C., Nov. 15, 1886.-A white man named Moore was sent to the chain-gang on Saturday for having traded wives with another man. When Judge Gilmer asked him what he had to say why sentence should not be passed, he replied that he did not know his act was a crime. A man came to his house with a woman that was better-looking than his own wife, and bantered him for a trade ; so he “swapped,” and paid $1.50 to boot. As this was his first “swap" he hoped that the court would impose a light sentence. -- Chicago Tribune.

Banting, the process of getting

rid of superfluous fat by means of a strictly regulated diet. The method was introduced by Mr. Banting-hence the name -about twenty-five years ago.

A parlour where all the furniture seemed to have undergone a prolonged course of banting.–Miss Braddon : Only a Clod.

religious sect in the East, who, believing in metempsychosis, eat of no creature endowed with life.” Hotten says the term is probably derived from the Banians or Banyans, a Hindoo caste, who abstain from animal food. Quite as probably from the sanitary arrangements which have in hot climates counselled the eating on certain days of banyans and other fruits in preference to meat.

The dinner, I own, is shy, unless I come and dine with my friends, and then I make up for banian days.-Thackeray: The Ad. ventures of Philip.

Banty (popular), saucy, impudent.

Probably from bantam or bantychickens, which are proverbial in America for pertness. —New

York Slang Dictionary. Banyan (Anglo-Indian), an under

shirt, originally of muslin, and so called as resembling the body garment of the Hindus, but now commonly applied to under body clothing of elastic cotton, wool. len, or silk web.- Anglo-Indian Glossary.

Those were the days when even the honourable members of the Council met in banyan shirts, conjee caps, and long drawers, with a case-bottle of good old arrack, and a gouglet of water on the table. -India Gazette, February 24, 1781.

An undershirt, commonly called a ba. nian.-Williamson, V. M. i. 19.

I have lost nothing by it but a banyan shirt, a corner of my quilt, and my Bible singed.-Sufferings of a Dutch Sailor. Banyan days (nautical), those in

which no flesh meat was issued to the messes. Stock-fish used to be served out till it was found to promote scurvy.

Of kitcheny (butter, rice, and dal) the European sailors feed in these parts, and are forced at such times to a Pagan abstinence from flesh, which creates in them an utter detestation to those banian days, as they call them.-Ovington, A.D. 1690.

May your honour never know a banyan day, and a sickly season for you, into the bargain !- Marryat : Japhet in Search of a father.

According to Admiral Smyth, “ The term is derived from a

Bar (racing), except. Bar is used

instead of the common compound form debar. When the bookmaker says “ ten to one bar one,” he means that he will lay ten to one against any horse bar (i.e., except) one. “How do they bet?” inquired the Jubilee Plunger. “Evens," replied Gus Jacobs. “All right. I'll bet you a monkey." “No," said Gus. “I don't want to bet - but here! I'll lay you 700 to 400 bar one."

“All right,” said the Plunger. “I'll have it."-Sporting Times.

(American thieves), “bar that toss,” stop that game.

" Bar that toss, Jim," said Bell, " for you're as fly at the pictures as the devil at lying, and I would rather be a knight of Alsatia than a plucked pigeon."-On the Trail.

(Oxford University), to bar, to object to. Probably from to bar, in the sense of to except; commoner in the compound form

Bar — Bark.

debar. A “Bullingdon ” man would probably say that he barred "the Union.” An "Exeter" man would be pretty certain to say that he barred “Jesus."

apes the manners of a gentle

man. Barbly (pidgin), babble, noise.

Probably the same as bobbery or bobbely. “Too muchee bar.

bly makee that chilo.” Bared (popular), shaved.

There are boys who think themselves men, and who go to barbers' shops to be, as they say, bared.-Diprose : Modern Joe Miller.

Bār (gypsy), a hedge, a garden or inclosure; a pound for cattle. Persian, bagh. Also a stone; tacho bār, a true or real stone, i.e., a

diamond. Baragan tailor (tailors), a rough

tailor. Barber, to (university), to do

one's impositions by deputy, the college barber having often been employed to perform this duty-hence the phrase. Those who by this means get rid of their impositions are said to barberise them. "And as for the impositions, why," as Mr. Bouncer said, “ain't there coves to barberise for you, Gig-lamps ?"-C. Bede: Verdant Green. Barber, that's the (old slang). Grose in his rare first edition of the "Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue,” says this was “a ridiculous and unmeaning phrase in the mouths of the common people about the year 1760, signifying their approbation of any action, measure, or thing." Barber's cat (common). Hotten

gives the definition—a halfstarved, sickly-looking person. A term used in connection with a coarse expression. Barber's clerk (common), a con

ceited, over-dressed fellow, who

Bare-footed on top of the head

(American), an expression ap

plied to a bald man. Barge (printers), an article used

by compositors in correcting the forms. Either a flat piece of card, or a small wooden box, with divisions to hold spaces for altering the justification of the line. A case, with some boxes full and others nearly empty, is also called a barge, probably referring to those boxes full up to the edge. The technical term would be space papers or space box.

(Common), barge or bargey, a term of ridicule applied to a very corpulent man or woman of large posterior development; a simile derived from the shape of a coal barge, or any clumsy boat or ship, compared with a wherry, or other vessel of more

elegant and slender build. Bāris, bawris, bawri (gypsy), a

snail; bawris simmun, snail soup. Bark (popular), an Irish man or woman. Hotten says that no etymology can be found for this.

In low Whitechapel Yiddish the term would at once be understood to mean a wanderer or vagabond, based on barkolis, or bargolis, one who goes about in misery and poverty, and barches, “further," as barches holchen, “to go further.” It is, however, probably derived from the Celtic barrag, scum, or dirty scum. Scum, as an abusive term, “ scum of the earth," is originally Irish, vide BARKSHIRE.

(Common), the skin, to “bark one's shins” is to get the skin off one's shins.

That'll take the bark from your nozzle, and distil the Dutch pink for you, won't it?- The Further Adventures of Mr. Ver dant Green.

Also used by thieves for pis. tol. The term is in contradiction to the saying, that a “dog that barks seldom bites.”

Here a loud holloa was heard close by the horses' heads. “Good heavens, if that is a footpad !" said Mr. Spencer, shaking violently. “Lord, sir, I have my barkers with me."-Bulwer: Night and Morning.

“Barkers for me, Barney," said Toby Crackit.

“Here they are," replied Barney, producing a pair of pistols.-Charles Dickens : Oliver Twist.

In nautical parlance, barkers is an old term for lower-deck guns and pistols.

(Popular), cough. So I suppose we must sing “Spring's Delights" when we ain't on the bark or the sneeze.—Punch, 1887.

Barkey (nautical), a sailor thus

calls a pet ship to which he belongs.

For the barkey she did know,
As well as e'er a soul on board,
'Twas time for us to go.

-Old American Slaver's Song.

Barking irons (thieves), pistols ;

and in nautical slang large duelling pistols, which French soldiers call “ pieds de cochon."

Barker (common), a man em

ployed at the doors of shows and shops of an inferior class to entice people inside. The French slang has the exactly corresponding term aboyeur. Among touting photographers he is called a “doorsman.” At universities a barker signifies a great swell, and in America a noisy coward; barker has another sig. nification explained by the following quotation :But what was "barking"? I thought a great deal about the matter, and could arrive at no more fcasible conclusion than that a barker was a boy that attended a drover, and helped him to drive his sheep by means of imitating the bark of a dog.Charles Greenwood : Outcasts of London.

Barkshire, a word applied by the

low English to Ireland ; from bark, a contemptuous and derisive name for an Irishman or Irishwoman. A member for Barkshire is a noisy, howling, troublesome fellow, who attempts to cough down his op

ponents, i.e., bark at them. Bark up the wrong tree, to

(American), is said of a man who vainly endeavours to accomplish a thing for which he is not fitted, or who addresses

himself to the wrong person for assistance. “You didn't really go to old Bullion," said a politician to an office seeker ; "why, he has no influence there, I can tell you ; you barked up the wrong tree there, my friend, and you deserve to fail.-Richmond Enquirer.

Barnaby (common), to dance

Barnaby is to move quickly and irregularly. See Cotton in his “Virgil Travestie," where, speaking of Eolus, he has these

lines-“Bounce,'cries the portholes, out they fly,

And make the world dance Barnaby."

Barnacle (old cant), pickpocket.

The man that stood beside thee is old
Crookfinger, the most notorious setter,
barnacle, and foist in the city.-Mark
Lemon: Leyton Hall.
Barnacles (common), spectacles ;

termed also “gig-lamps” or
"bosses." From barnacle, a kind
of shellfish, or from barnacles,
an instrument consisting of two
branches joined at one end with
a hinge, to put upon a horse's
nose, to confine him for shoe-
ing, bleeding, or dressing.
Your eyes dasell after your washing;

these spectacles put on;
Now view this raysour; tell me, is it

not a good one ? They bee gay barnikles, yet I see

never the better. -Edwards: Damon and Pithias.

Barney (popular), a mob or a

crowd, disturbance. 'Ard lines, ain't it, Charlie, old hoyster?

A barney's a barney, dear boy, And you know that a squeege and a sky

lark is wot I did always enjoy. A street-rush is somethink splendacious

to fellers of speerit like me, But dints and diakkylum plaster will spile the best sport, dontcher see.

--Punch. This word has several meanings, and apparently two distinct roots-one Aryan, and the other Semitic. Barney, a mob or crowd, may be derived from the gypsy bāro, great or many, which sometimes takes the form of barno or barni, and which suggests the Hindu bahrna, to increase, proceed, to gain, &c., and bharna, to fill or satisfy. Barney, a swindle, a sell, or a cross, is probably from the Yiddish barniss or barnoss, which becomes a Jewish proper name in Barnet, popularly Barney. (Dickens gives this name to a young Jew.) Barniss means a leader of a multitude, or headman of any description. Remote as the connection between a “swindle" and a “captain " may seem to be, it is direct enough according to the lowest form of Yiddish or German thieves' slang, in which a leading, a clever, a swindling man are all united in cochemer, “a wise man,” and also “a leader of thieves." In achprosch we have

Barndoor practice (society), the

fashionable but indefensible system of battue, by which the birds are brought all within a limited range, where they fall an easy prey to the “ sportsman!”

Barney—Barnumise.

Barn stormer (familiar), a term

formerly applied to itinerant actors who acted in barns, like the troupe of Scarron's Roman Comique, and that of Gautier's Capitaine Fracasse.

Barnum (American.) “To talk

Barnum” is not to indulge in extravagant “high-falutin," ---this the great American never does,-but to utter vast assertions in a quiet manner. The following is a good specimen of it.

again the conceptions of intelli. gence united to robbery, and to leadership. Further, baldober, a director, a leader, is applied to an arch-thief who gets double share. Balmassematen has also the double meaning of a shrewd man of business and a swindler, and the transition from a swindler to a swindle is natural enough, and has many parallels. It is to be observed that Hebrew terms of this stamp are far more frequently used by Christian than by Jewish malefactors, as is proved by their corruption. From the barniss, barnet, or barney of a gang of thieves, we have barneying, robbing, or swindling, whence barney, a swindle, is all in order.

(Racing), the person who prevents a horse winning a race, is described as “ doing a barney." The same phrase is applied to the horse itself.

(Running), humbug, rubbish; in racing, when a man does not try to win.

(Society), trip, excursion, outing.

(Popular), fun, larking ; teasing for amusement. It is common to hear people of the lower class say, whenever there is any object in view to make fun of, or have a game with, “Let's

have a barney." Barney, to (Harvard University),

to recite badly. Barn mouse (popular), to be bitten by a barn mouse, to be tipsy. Possibly an allusion to barley.

Rising Phænix-like from the ashes of my fifth great fire, which only served to illuminate my path of duty as the American people's champion amusement-provider, I have taken into equal partnership my energetic and experienced friend and former associate, James A. Bailey. We have enlarged and vastly improved the greatest show on earth, which we propose to establish as a permanence, with a reserved capital of several millions of dollars. At an early date we intend to establish in several of the largest American cities permanent museums containing many thousands of natural, artificial, mechanical, and scientific curiosities.... The Barnum and Bailey show will present to this and future generations a world's fair and a moral school of object teaching of unexampled variety and superior excel. lence, more amusing, instructive, comprehensive, and vast than was ever before seen or dreamed of.-- Phineas T. Barnum.

Barnumise, to (American), to act as Mr. Barnum, a showman, impresario, and a public character, in so many phases famous, or notorious, that his name has passed into the established list of Americanisms. The word humbug does not express so much as that of Barnum.

Barnumise-Barrakin.

Barnum had made himself so extremely conspicuous in so many ways even thirty years ago, that a Paris editor suggested that when his engagement as manager for Jenny Lind should come to an end, she would make quite as much money if she would go about exhibiting him. Long ago not a soul in the United States put the least faith in Barnum's curiosities, but this made no difference in the receipts, people thronged in “just to see how he humbugged the greenhorns." In one advertisement the great exhibitor admitted with beautiful candour that what he exhibited might not be genuine, that he himself with all his experience might have been taken in by unscrupulous deceivers—"all that we ask,” he said, “is that the public will come and judge for themselves, and we promise faithfully to abide by their verdict.” The public did come, paying twenty-five cents (or one shilling) per head and passed their verdict, and Mr. Barnum did abide by it (and the dollars), and at once got out something new. At last nobody put any faith in his curiosities. Then it became a source of intense delight to him to exhibit objects which were really remarkable, and to make the public believe they were frauds. Having once a real bearded woman, Barnum ingeniously contrived to have it reported that she was a man, and to get himself prosecuted

for imposition, the result being a medical examination, an acquittal, and of course an increased rush of sight-seers. It should be added that Mr. Barnum has always been noted for very great though always judicious generosity, that he is exceptionally honourable and honest in his private dealings, and that he has built up Bridgeport, Connecticut, from a small town to a city. Barnum's colossal show was destroyed by fire

a short time since. Barrack hack (army), a girl who

prowls about barracks for purposes of prostitution, generally the lowest of the low. French soldiers call these “paillasse de corps-de-garde." Barrack-hack is also applied to young ladies of perfectly virtuous character, but who have been to garrison or military balls for several years. The term was freely used at one time in reference to one of the parties in a noted

criminal case. Barracking (Australian), banter

ing. Probably from the slang term barrikin, jargon, speech, or discourse, on account of the “palaver" which traders must hold before they can strike a bargain. Barrakin or barrikin (popular),

jargon, gibberish; low, unintelligible language.

The high words in a tragedy we calls jaw-breakers, and we say we can't tumble to that barrikin.-Mayhew: London Labour and the London Poor.

“half volley" by cricketers, from the name of R. S. Barter, a famous cricketer. It has also the signification of a hard hit. To barter is to hit the ball hard at cricket.

From the French baragouin, which has the same meaning. It occurs in Rabelais as buragoin. “Cheese your barrikin," stop talking, shut up. Barrel boarder (American), “a

bucket-shop bummer, a low sot” (New York Slang Dictionary), evidently derived from sitting about on the barrels in

a small shop. Barrel fever (common), the sick. ness caused by intoxication, sometimes called the bottleache, the quart-mania, and the gallon-distemper, all possible precursors of delirium tremens.

Barts, an abbreviation of St. Bar

tholomew's Hospital, used by medical students and others. Barvelo (gypsy), rich, wealthy.

A lórdus vias kete wélgóro

Rya te ranis shan barveli.
A tano rye te a kāmelo,
Avo mi pirryni, ávali!

-A Lord Went to the Fair -Lords and ladies are rich. A young gentleman and an agreeable (lovely) one. Yes, my sweetheart, yes. --Janet Tuckey.

(Hindu), bhara, increase, fulness,

Barres (old), gamblers' term, ap

plied to money lost by them, but which they do not pay. Whereby they wyl drawe a mannes money but pay none, which they call barres. - Ascham: Toxophilus. Barrick (American), a common word in Pennsylvania for a hill. From the German berg. Bang, bang! de sharp pistolen shots

Vent pipin by his ear,
Boot he tortled oop de barrick road
Like any mountain deer.

-Breitmann in Politics.

Bash, to (popular), to strike, to

thrash, to crush; to bash hats is a
favourite amusement of London
roughs in a large crowd. From
a provincialism to beat fruit
down from the trees with a pole.

He taps me across the hand with a cane, and my mother goes in and bashes him over the head with a poker, and gets him fined for assaulting me.-Punch.

(Pugilistic), a bash is one of a variety of blows.

It certainly seemed also that this encounter had been full of "go." The “cockles" of the hearts of Corinthian Tom and Jerry Hawthorn warmed as they heard and read of " fibbing" and "counter. ing," of "red-hot smacks," "left-handers on the nob," "rib-roasters," “ uppercuts," "exchanges," "bashes," "knockdowners," “body-punches," "spankers," “welts," "smashers," "whistlers," " rattling ivories," "stingers," "bangs," "hotuns," and of the "tapping” of the “claret," and the flowing of “the ruby."— Punch.

Barrow-bunter (costermongers),

female costermonger.

I saw a dirty barrow-bunter in the street, cleaning her dusty fruit with her own spittle.-Smollett : Humphrey Clinker.

Barrow-tram (popular), a term

applied jocularly to a raw-boned, awkward-looking person.

Barter (Winchester), a barter is

a ball more generally called a

Bash-Bat.

Basket, to bring to the (old), to

fall into poverty. God be praised! I am not brought to the basket, though I had rather live on charity than rapine.-Father Darrell : Gentlemen Instructed.

(Old provincial English), to beat. In Bedfordshire to beat fruit trees with a pole. Allied to baste, to beat ; Icelandic beysta, Swedish bôsta, and basa, to beat. An English word of Danish origin.

In prisons to bash signifies to strike, and especially to flog. Bashing in, a flogging at the commencement of a ruffian's term of imprisonment; bashing out, one at the close.

(Popular), a tremendous plunge or fall. A word expressive of sudden concussion, breaking up, or tumbling. The chaise went crash and I went bash Amongst the shafts and wheels, And Mary Ann and her mama, Went right head over heels! -George Horncastle: Mary Ann

and her Mama. Basher (pugilistic), prize fighter,

synonymous with “bruiser.” Bashing (prison), a flogging. Basing (gaming). “That's basing" when clubs are turned up trumps -the allusion as generally explained being "that clubs were trumps when Basing was taken.” This was one of the most memorable of the sieges of the Civil War.

Basket, to go to the (old), to be

imprisoned. Arrested! this is one of those whose base and abject flattery helped to dig his grave. He is not worth your pity, nor my anger; go to the basket and repent.--Massinger : Fatal Dowry.

This is from the fact that a basket was lowered from the prison window for alms by a man, who called out, “ Pity the poor prisoners !"

Bastard brig (naval), a coaster,

termed also a “schoony-orgy" or “ hermaphrodite brig."

Bastile (thieves, paupers, and

tramps), the workhouse or “big house;" formerly a prison. The word is now abbreviated into "steel.”

Basket (old cant), used in the phrase "a kid in the basket," said of a woman in the family way.

(Tailors), stale news. Basket meeting (American). A

half picnic and half religious meeting.

Bat (American), a frolic, a spree.

An abbreviation of batter, which means the same. I'm away from the shop and away from

my work, And I mean to cut up like a regular

Turk; So down with the Lager and up with

your hat, We are off for the day on a regular bat.

-Concert Hall Songs. Also a prostitute who only walks the streets at night. Termed “hirondelle de nuit" in French slang.

Bat-Batha.

You lie, you bat-I couple with no cove but my own. Harry, will you let yourself be made a two-legged stool of by a flag-about?-On the Trail.

In the English slang, “ on his own bat” has the signification of on his own account, by his own exertions, a cricketing phrase. Bat also means paceto go off at a good bat.

would have said "abi in malam rem."Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, New York

“Go to Bath!" said the Baron. A de. fiance so contemptuous roused the ire of the adverse commanders.-Ingoldsby Legends.

This town does not seem to have been in favour with the Earl of Rochester, who thus

describes it :There is a place, down a gloomy vale, Where burden'd nature lays her nasty

tail ; Ten thousand pilgrims thither do resort For ease, disease, for lechery and sport.

-Works.

Bates' farm (prison), the prison;

probably applied only to Cold
Bath Fields.
Now every morning when you rise

You get a starving meal,
And if you don't eat all they send

You have to work the wheel.
Then so merrily we go

To chapel to have prayers,
and for a little pastime work
The everlasting stairs.

For it was this blooming morning
I left Old Bates's farm.
I feel so glad this blessed day
I've left Old Bates's farm !

So C. B. F., the initials of Cold Bath Fields stamped on articles used in the prison, is interpreted Charley Bates's Farm, and to be on the treadmill there is feeding the chickens on Charley Bates's Farm. A warder of that name is said to have been in charge there.

Bath, which has given its name to various things for which it was supposed to be famous, as Bath brick, Bath buns, Bath chairs, &c., has, besides, provided the French argot with the adjective bath or bate, an equivalent of A1, used in phrases such as “c'est bien bath," that is, excellent, first-class, tip-top. “ Être de la bate" signifies to be lucky, fortunate. The origin of the expression is as follows: - Towards 1848 some Bath notepaper of superior quality was hawked about in the streets of Paris and sold at a low price. Thus “papier bath” became sy. nonymous with excellent paper. In a short time the qualifying term alone remained, and received a general application.A. Barrère : Argot and Slang.

Bath (general), "go to Bath” is

so universally used that it has almost ceased to be slang. Invalids or insane persons used to be sent to Bath for the benefit of its mineral waters. So “go to Bath” literally meant you are mad, go to Bath to get cured.

You tell a disagreeable neighbour to “go to Bath" in the sense in which a Roman

Batha (Anglo-Indian). “Two

different words are thus expressed in Anglo-Indian colloquial, and in a manner

confounded: (1.) Hindu bhātā, an extra allowance made to officers, soldiers, or other public servants when in the field or on other special occasions, also subsistence-money to witnesses or prisoners. (2.) Hindu batta, agio or difference in exchange, or discount on uncurrent coins.”- Anglo-Indian Glossary.

Bathing machines (nautical),

old 10-gun brigs are so named.

Bat mugger (Winchester), an in

strument for oiling bats.

her to compare his father's portrait with that of her second husband, whom she married so soon after the funeral of the first as to scandalise all Denmark. Follow your function, go! and batten on cold bits.

-Coriolanus : Act IV. scene 5. Could you on this fair mountain leave to

feed, And batten on this moor?

-Hamlet : Act III. scene 4. (Oxford University), to battel, to be indebted to the buttery for provisions and drink, to run an account for food, &c., with the college as opposed to boarding in a private house. In De Quincey's “Life and Memoirs,” p. 274, there is an allusion to this practice—“Many men battel at the rate of a guinea a week and wealthier men more expensive, and more careless men even buttelled much higher;” also to reside or keep terms at the university. It has been suggested that the word is derived from an old monkish word, patella or batella, a plate.

Bats (thieves' slang), old shoes or

boots. In Somersetshire, lowlaced boots. From pat, old gypsy for foot or shoe.

Battels (university), a student's account at the college kitchen. Sometimes also it is used for the goods supplied. Buttery and kitchen cooks were adding up the sum total; bursars were preparing for battels.-C. Bede: Verdant Green.

It is an old word, originally meaning an account. In the Gentleman's Magazine, August 1872, it is said to be derived from bezahlen, “to pay.” Wright gives the derivation old English bat, increase, and Anglo-Saxon dæl, deal, portion. Another origin is that given by Dr. Brewer, battens, from the verb to batten, to feed. Batten is used by Shakspeare in Coriolanus, and also in Hamlet, where the prince addresses his mother, and asks

Batter (popular), wear and tear.

“Can't stand the batter," i.e., not equal to the task; “on the batter” on the streets applies to prostitutes, termed in French argot “ battre le quart” with this special meaning; also, given up to debauchery. See BATTY.

Batters (printers), a recognised term applied to bad or broken letters which are flung into the “hell box," a receptacle to hold

Battlings (public schools), weekly

allowance given out to boys on Saturdays.

The business of the latter was to call us of a morning to distribute amongst us our battlings or pocket-money.-Dickens : Household Words, vol. i. p. 188.

Bawdy banquet (old cant), whor

ing.

Battner (old), an ox, “The cove

has hushed the battner,” the butcher has killed the ox; from batten, to fatten. According to Skeat, of Scandinavian origin, from the same root as “better.”

Batty (workmen), wages, per

quisites. Derived from batta, an extra pay given to soldiers while serving in India.-Hotten,

Bawdy baskets (old slang), wo. men who sold pins, &c., to servant girls, or exchanged these articles for eatables, and occasionally stole linen off hedges. Also applied to the itinerant vendors of obscene and ribald literature, and to a prostitute. Many a faire lasse in London towne, Many a bawdie basket borne up and

down.

-Puttenham: Art of English Poesie. Bawhawder (Anglo-Indian), from

the Hindu bahadur, a hero, a champion. A word applied in

Batty-fang provincialism), to

thrash; batty-fang or batter-fang, blow; batty-fanging, a thrashing.

Anglo-Indian to any great swell or soldier. It is a title of honour for bravery, which is found in one form or another all over the East. There is nothing of the great bahawder about him.-Athenaum, No. 2670, p. 851: Anglo-Indian Glossary. Bayadere. This word, though

generally supposed to be Hindu for a dancing -girl, is only a French form of the Portuguese bailadeira, from bailar, to dance. "Come, an hour of rapture prove ?" “And what art thou?" “A bayadere, And this the joyous home of Love."

- Goethe.

was too shocking to be uttered aloud. She consented, however, to whisper the naughty word in his worship's ear. Mr. Ingham heard the mysterious “libel,” and though he could not grant the summons, B.C. has acquired the signification given above.-Dr. Brewer : Dictionary of Phrase and Fable.

(Racing), the Beacon Course, the full length (four miles, one furlong, one hundred and fortythree yards) of the racing track at Newmarket.

Bayard of ten toes, to ride

(old slang). The old equivalent of “Shanks' mare” (German Schusters Rappen, cobbler's black horses), i.e., to go on foot. In the old romances Bayard was a

celebrated horse. Bay-window (American), preg

nancy, with a big belly. New York Slang Dictionary: “She has a bow-window to her toyshop.” The French argot expresses the same by the phrase, “Elle a un polichinelle dans le tiroir," the tiroir being in this

phrase a “toy-shop.” B.C. has become the stereotyped exponent of a ridiculous charge of libel. A genteel young woman complained to Mr. Ingham of having been abused by a person who called her a B.C. The magistrate asked what B.C. meant, when he was told that C. meant “cat,” but B.

Beach cadgers (old), idle vaga

bonds dressed as sailors, who prowl about the beach at watering-places and obtain money on false pretences from persons

frequenting that part. Beach-comber (nautical), a fellow

who loafs about a port to filch small things. One who prowls about the sea-shore to plunder wrecks or pick up waifs and strays of any kind. In the Pacific any kind of sailor ad. venturer. (Nautical), a river boatman.

Beach-tramper (nautical), coast

guard. Beadle (freemasons), an officer

answering to junior warden in a council of Knights of the Holy Sepulchre.

Beak, originally thieves' cant

(beck), for policeman, magistrate, but now it has only the latter signification.

Beak gander, judge of the supe

rior court.

I suppose you don't know what a beak is, my flash com-pan-i-on?... My eyes, how green! ... Why, a beak's a madg. st'rate; and when you walk by a beak's order, it's not straightforerd, but always agoing up and niver a coming down agin. -Charles Dickens : Oliver Twist.

The term is used by better men than thieves. There was an old obstinate beak (Who oftentimes played a queer freak),

Said, “Take her away

Next time she must pay !" And would not let her chief witness speak.

Sporting Times. Some etymologists derive beak from the Saxon beag, a gold collar worn by civic magistrates as an emblem of authority. It seems, however, that “beck," a constable, was from a metaphor based on the literal meaning of the word beak or bill, and the circumstance that a detective is nowadays termed a “nose" comes in support of this supposition. It may also be derived from “to beckon," to intimate a command, the “move on” of the modern constable. To account for the meaning of magistrate, it may be said that the transition was easy from the humble guardian of the law to the more exalted one. Thus French malefactors gave both policeman and magistrate the common appellation of vache. A judge is sometimes called the “beak of the law.”

Beam ends (general), a nautical

metaphor. A person entirely at a loss, who is “all abroad," is said to be “thrown upon his beam ends." He laughed the idea down completely; and Tom abandoning it, was thrown upon his beam-ends again for some other solution.-Charles Dickens : Martin Chuzslewit.

The French would express a state of embarrassment by “il est au bout de son latin,” or “ il ne sait sur quel pied danser.”

The phrase also means to be in great need, when the “ballast" (money)—to continue the nautical metaphor—is gone. When a fellow is on his beam-ends, as I was then, he must keep his eyes about him and have impudence enough for anything, or else he may stop and starve. -Mayhew: London Labour and the London Poor.

“On one's beam-ends,” in a sitting posture.

You get on stunningly, gig-lamps, and haven't been on your beam-ends more than once a minute.-C. Bede : Verdant Green.

Bean. This word occurs in several

colloquial phrases, such as “three blue beans in a blue bladder," and refers to a rattle-head, a foolish fellow.

They say, That putting all his words together, 'Tis three blue beans in a blue bladder.

-Prior: Alma Cant. The phrase is evidently from a jester's bladder with beans or peas in it. It must be noted,

Beaker hunter or beak hunter

(thieves' slang), a thief who devotes his attention to the poultry

yard.

Bean-Beans.

as a coincidence, that the idea of a bladder was uppermost in the minds of those who coined the French word fol, fool, jester, from the low Latin follis, bellows or bladder.

“Not worth a bean,” or “the black of a bean,” corresponds to the Latin ne hilum (literally “not the black of a bean"), contracted into nihil. There is a Dutch proverb, “ Every bean has its black,” i.e., “Every man has his faults," which gives force to the English expression.

(American slang), a bean is specially a five-dollar gold piece, and “bean-traps” is synonymous with stylish sharpers.

Formerly bean meant a guinea. This is possibly from the French bien, used in old canting among other meanings for property or money. “Couldn't you let him pike if I come down with a thimble and ten beans ?"

The detective shook his head.-On the Trail.

telligence of the highest order, and also for an extraordinary fondness for beans baked in a pot with pork—of which Fuller, the Shakspeare of divines, said that “it was a good dish which the Pythagoreans and Jews had contrived between them to spoil.” The result of all this has been a saying for any ignorant person that he don't know beans, i.e., “he is an ignoramus, or Gentile-he is not a Bostonian, he is not fond of beans, ergo, an outside barbarian.” Others derive it from the old joke, “How many black beans make five white ones ?” to which the answer is, “ Five, if you peel them.” He who knew how to answer this question was supposed to know beans. In the following extract from the Boston Globe, in which an effort is made to select from the local directory names which indicate articles of food, it is worth observing that the first name thought of is, of course, Bean, although the list is not in alphabetical order :"The Hub's Happy FAMILY.--Accord. ing to the city directory, there are plenty of Beans in Boston, one Egge, eight Pyes, a number of Onions, and one Crumb. Be. sides these there are three Bones, also Salt and Jelly. Seven Beers are found, and Coffee, Milk, and Teas. There is one Chicken to three Goslings and a Hawk. Boston also has a pair of Stockings, one Sock, one Cravatt, a pair of Mittens, and four Collars. Three Hatts and one Wigg complete the outfit."

Bean feast (tailors), a good feast,

also an annual excursion of workpeople.

Beano (printers). See 'GOOSE.

Abbreviation of word “beanfeast,” mostly used by machineprinters. Compositors generally employ the term “'goose" or "wayzgoose" for this festive event.

Beans, he don't know (Ameri

can). The natives of New England, but especially of Boston, are celebrated for culture or in

The writer for the Globe forgot to look out for Bacon to go

banker's when the expected premium is “nil,” and he is called upon to pay the allotment. Now as the Bull had run away, Unable for the shares to pay, 'Twas clear, as he'd no cash to spare, The Stag then couldn't pay the Bear; So when the Bear went for his due, The Stag had gone to Boulogne too. And, since the Stag had cut and run, 'Twas plain the Bear could pay no one; So those to whom he money ow'd, When they sought out the brute's abode, Found that the Bear, or him they call so, Had cut and run to Boulogne also.

-Atkin: House Scraps.

with his Beans. It was, we believe, a Boston Bacon, “forenamed ” Delia, who first denied to Shakspeare the authorship of his plays.

(Society), to be “full of beans," means to be in good form. The metaphor is borrowed from a horse being said to be full of beans when he is fresh and frisky. To be beany, is to be in a good humour, like a horse who has had a good feed. (Common), to“ give beans," means to give a good beating.

He's the unbought and undefeated Chelsea Chicken, and I reckon that when he meets the Brazilian Gamecock-Tom Tif. fin, who holds the championship of the Western Hemisphere, he'll give him beans. -Moonshine.

The term beans is also used for money; a “ haddock of beans,"

a purse of money. Bear (Stock Exchange), a fall, or

a speculator for a fall; a man who sells stock which he does not possess in the hope of being paid not to have it delivered. His confrère the “bull” speculates in the same manner for a rise, while the “ stag” operates on shares of new companies which he applies for with the intention of selling at once at a premium. The commonly accepted and very old explanation of these words is that the bears claw or pull the stock down, while the bulls toss it up. The “ stag” is the representative of the timid speculator, trust. ing more to his fleetness of foot than to the balance at his

Current expressions in the “House” are: to operate for a bear ; to realise a profitable bear. To bear the market is using every effort to depress the

price of stock in order to buy it. And these are the clients who sell and

buy, Who “ bear" when low and "bull" when

high, And who pay the Como, a source of gain, Which lightens sorrow and eases pain. ... And these are the men who, all forlorn, Wander about all tattered and torn, who have been clients, who sell and buy, Who “bear" when low and "bull" when

high. -Atkin: House Scraps. Dealings are now becoming more active in these stocks, and a considerable bear account is developing itself.- Truth, April 26, 1888.

When speculators become defaulters—to whatever category of the animal trinity mentioned above they may belong-they are metamorphosed into “lame ducks,” and “ waddle out of the alley."

“ To bear a bob" (nautical),

used jocularly by Jack-tars for “to lend a hand; ” (popular), to join in chorus with persons

singing. Beard splitter (old slang), a rake;

one of the “ loose fish ” sort who is fond of prostitutes. The

allusion is obvious. Bearer-up (thieves' slang), a gambling cheat, more generally called a “bonnet,” a commission agent, bidder or sweetener at an auction ; a decoy-duck at cards who induces strangers to play with sharpers by persuasion or by seeing him win. From the legal term “bearer" in old law, one who bears down and oppresses others by vexatiously assisting a third party in maintaining a suit against them. Bear fight (society), a rough and tumble in good part. The smoking or billiard rooms at night in country houses are the places where bear fights fre

quently occur. Be-argered (common), drunk. Bear-leader (common), the travel.

ling companion or tutor of a young gentleman or nobleman, employed by the parents or guardians to watch over him and keep him from evil courses which he might fall into if left to himself. “Unlicked cub” was and still is a slang term for an undisciplined youth, and was no doubt the origin of bear as applied to the same

kind of person. When Dr. Johnson visited Scotland and the Hebrides in his old age, accompanied by James Boswell, who has left the world so amusing an account of the prejudices of his uncouth and ungainly hero against everything he saw in Scotland, it pleased the wits of Edinburgh to call Boswell his bear-leader. Henry Erskine, to whom Boswell had introduced the great man, slipped a shilling into Boswell's hand, saying, “ Take that, my good man; it's for the

sight of your bear!" Bears ? are you there with your

(old), are you there, or, at it again ? Joe Miller says the expression originated in this way. A man disgusted with a sermon on Elisha and the bears, went on the following Sunday to another church, where he heard the sermon delivered once more by the same preacher.' Irate at being thus foiled, he cried out, “Are you there with your bears ?” The explanation is more quaint than convincing. The phrase seems to have been very common in the seventeenth century. Another, when at the racket court he had a ball struck into his hazard, would ever and anon cry out, “Estes-vous là avec vos ours ?” which is ridiculous in any other language but English.-). Howell: For raine Travell.

Oh, quoth they, here is an accident may save the man; are you there with your bears? We will quit the exercise of the House's right rather than that should be. Roger North : Examen.

Bear—Beat.

Bear watching, to (American), a

phrase indicating suspicion. “ Jones may be a nice man, but he'll bear watching—you had better keep your eye on him."

“Now Brer Rabbit knowed he bes' look about right spry, cayse de creeters all had dey eyes skint an' dey years open fer him, cayse he hed setch cu'y'ous leetle ways wid him dat he'd bar watchin'.”—Brer Rabbit.

demy, at West Point, new cadets are so called. More appropriate and suggestive termsthough not so forcible-are used at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst-"Snooker," "Johnny;" “bejants” (bėjaunes) is applied to freshmen at Aberdeen University.

Beat, to (American), to cheat, or

“do" one out of money in any way.

Two of these eating establishments are large and busy places, wherein two good dishes can be had for a dime (fivepence). It is said that the waiters are all athletes and skilled bouncers, who are more respected by the public than any waiters ever were before. It is like trifling with dynamite to try to beat one of these places out of a dinner, and the bummer who does so is described as looking and feeling as if he had been through a rolling-mill when his waiter has tired of toying with him.Chicago Tribune.

Beastly (common). This word,

which was once used only in a very abusive sense, has, by dint of repetition, come like awfully, or dreadful, or horrid in America, to signify “very.” Ere ladies use such beastly names our

follies to condemn, They should bear in mind they always

find we're beastly fond of them. --Zoological Companions : A Ballad. They go on if I say “beastly jolly," And say that I mustn't talk slang, And lecture me well on the folly Of shutting the door with a bang.

-H. Adams: Only a Little

Bit Giddy. It is also used in society as an emphatic adjective. Everything that does not meet with approval now is beastly: as, “We had a beastly dull sermon this morning.” Surely a libel on animals, as the original meaning is, “pertaining to, or having the form and nature of a beast." Thus, the young French lady used the word correctly when she said of her pets, “I like horses, I like dogs, I like parrots ; in short, I like everything that is beastly!"

To “beat hollow,” to “beat into fits," to “beat badly," to surpass or excel. A man who is wholly exhausted is said to be “dead-beat."

“That bcats the bugs!” (American). The phrase is used to denote anything stupendous, incredible, incommensurable. Probably from an old story in which some bugs showed astounding sagacity and achieved some wonderful feat in order to baffle their tormentor and extri. cate themselves from a perilous position. Another version is that a man to prevent the bugs from getting to his bed, made a circle of tar round it. Then

Beasts (American cadets). At

the United States Military Aca

Beat-Beating

they climbed up to the ceiling, Beater - cases (obsolete), shoes and fell or jumped down on the or boots; also called formerly bed. Finally, he made another. "bowles;” more modern are the circle of tar on the ceiling, and “trotter-cases” (termed “trotthat “beat the bugs.”

tinets,” or “trottins" in French “Well, if this don't beat the bugs!" he'd slang), “grubbers, carts, beetlesay. “What a spot o' work this is, sar crushers, crab-shells, and hocktainly."-Sam Slick.

dockies.” Thieves and roughs Beat, a (journalistic). “To have

in a poetical mood have given a beat on one,” is to call on one.

them the name of “daisy-roots,"

while mashers ruefully talk of On my return home I had what jour. nalists call a beat on nearly all my

their pointed patents as “exacquaintances, to whom I had much that cruciators.” A policeman on was strange and wonderful to tell concern. his beat is said by the roughs to ing my travels.-W. A. Paton : Down the

exercise his “plates of meat." Islands.

The much despised spring side (American), to “get a beat on boots officers term “Jemimas.” one,” to have the laugh of one, to take a “rise” out of.

Beaters (thieves), feet, an abbre“ Great Cæsar! and we've gone to viation of dew-beaters, a slang press,” gasped the editor. “The after.

term for feet, and, in Norfolk, noon papers will get a beat on us tomorrow."-San Franciscan.

coarse oiled shoes that resist the

dew. “To pad one's beaters,” Beat daddy mammy, to (old to walk, to walk away. military), to practise the elements of drum beating.

Pluck me some panam and caftar, Bil,

for I want to pad my beaters.--New York Beat the Dutch, to (popular).

Slang Dictionary. That beats the Dutch, is said of The earlier word is “batters" or any startling statement or in “bats," which represents the oricredible fact. To beggar de ginal “pats." In gypsy, tom pats scription or stagger belief. Ori is in common with canting a ginally used to express extreme word for feet. Hindu, tal-pat, stupidity and obstinacy,a Dutch. the sole. man being popularly represented as a phlegmatic person whom Beating the booby (nautical), the nothing could move.

beating of the hands and arms

across the chest, to warm Beaten down to bed-rock (Ame

oneself in cold weather. An rican), reduced to the last ex.

older synonymous expression is tremity.

“beating Jonas.” Some had died, others were dying; none were well, and all were, as they tersely

Beating the road (American), put it, beaten down to bed-rock. -Phillipps. Wolley: Trottings of a Tenderfoot.

travelling in a railway train

Beau-nasty (old), a fop who,

though in exterior finely dressed, is dirty and slovenly in person and habits.

without paying. There are
many ways of doing this known
to the American “dead beat,” ,
adventurer, and tramp. One is
to pretend to be an official em-
ployed on some other railroad,
another to make a private
arrangement with the conduc-
tor or an employé to be allowed
to travel in a freight car, a
third is to simply hide in the
freight.

The problem was—twelve or thirteen hundred miles to be overpassed without paying one's fare over the rails. This

e been an easy task to many, and some months later it would scarcely have caused me so much anxiety, but I was then inexperienced, and somewhat green in the matter of passes, which are often to be obtained by a plausible man of good address, and versed in the methods of beating the road, or, more literally, of cheating the company.--Roberts : The Western Avernus.

Beautifiers (popular). Women

who, like Madame Rachel, profess to make people “young and beautiful for ever.” Of late years these persons have become common, and have many customers not only in the demimonde, but even among poor

girls. Take my advice, girls; good complexions

Only are gained by early strolls, Heed not the beautifier's directions, Use not her dear cosmetic rolls. - Ballad: Strolling Down the Lanes.

Beau trap (old), a well-dressed

sharper who used to lie in wait for country visitors.

English roughs and thieves term this kind of cheating “doing a duck," generally managed by hiding under the seat of a carriage.

Beauty - sleep (common), a nap

before midnight.

Are you going? It is not late. ... A medical man, who may be called up at any moment, must make sure of his beautysleep.-Kingsley: Two Years Ago.

And would I please to remember that I had roused him the hostler) up at night; and the quality always made a point of paying four times over for a man's loss of his beauty-sleep. I replied that his loss of beauty-sleep was rather improving to a man of so high a complexion, &c.-Blackmore: Lorna Doone.

Beau. This is a word in very

general use in America to signify a lover or an especially devoted attendant. From this the verb to beau, to beau about. In Queen Anne's time the beau meant rather an elegant man than a lover.

The Southern girl is more frivolousminded than her Northern sister; she cares more for beaux and ribbons, a dance and a laugh. She loves the sunshine and stroll in the park with no definite end in view except perhaps a smile and a bow from the young men of her acquaintance. -. Boston Record.

Beavers (Winchester), originally,

leave to go out in the afternoon, when none but prefects were allowed to wear hats. Afterwards the appellation denoted an intermission of half-an-hour in the course of the afternoon on whole school days, when

Bed (thieves' slang), put to bed

with a shovel, dead and buried. Played out they lay, it will be said,

A hundred stretches hence;
With shovels they were put to bed

A hundred stretches since.
-A Hundred Stretches Hence: New

York Slang Dictionary.

Bedder (universities), a bedmaker,

a species of charwoman now nearly extinct in Oxford, but flourishing at Cambridge.

Bed-post (common), in the

“ twinkling of a bed-post,” in a moment, as quick as lightning, in a jiffy, or as rapidly as a staff can be twinkled or turned. A more modern expression extensively used is, in the “twinkling of a pike-staff,” which explains itself. Bed-post, in this case, seems to have replaced bed-staff, a wooden pin stuck formerly on the sides of the bedstead to keep the clothes from slipping on either side, and which might be wielded as a stick or staff when a brute thought it necessary to chastise his better half. Nous avons changé tout cela, and now the improvised staff has been superseded by the poker, varied by an application of hob-nailed boots.

Bed-fagot (common), a contemp

tuous term for a woman, but more specially applied to a prostitute. A provincialism for a bedfellow.

Bed filling (army), lying down

after dinner to rest and digest.

Bed-house, a house of assigna

tion. One where beds and rooms are hired by the hour or half-day, &c. An institution which has spread with incredible rapidity of late years in England and America, since the suppression or gradual disappearance of brothels, so that,

Bed-rock (American), to get on the bed rock, not to be able to go lower or to abate. Used in this instance: “What is the price of that ?” “Six dollars.” “Is it bed-rock price?” i.e., is it your lowest price. Bed-rock pieces, the last coins in one's almost empty purse; probably a miner's phrase.

Bee-Beef.

Bee (American), a meeting, gene

rally a merrymaking, but with a practical or beneficial object. Thus there are apple-bees for paring apples, husking-bees for husking, raising-bees to “raise ” houses, and spelling. bees. Probably an abbreviation of the old word “bidding,” or the Dutch bied, influenced by bee as a type of industry. “Bidding," pronounced beeding, meant an invitation a cen

tury ago. Harry cum parry, when will you marry?

When apples and pears are ripe. I'll come to your wedding without any

bidding, And stay with the bride all the night. --Mother Goose's Nursery Rhymes for

Boys and Girls (Standard Edition).

taneously by the united force, when, with a crash increasing to a thundering volume, it bore down on the next, till all lay prostrate. And thus for three days did this volunteer war

against the forest progress." Bee-bee (Anglo-Indian), Hindu,

from the Persian bi bi, once applied to English ladies, who are now called Mem Sahib. It is still often used by native servants in addressing European maid - servants, — Anglo- Indian Glossary.

A Hindu concubine. But the society of the station does interfere in such cases, and though it does not mind bee-bees or their friends, it rightly taboos him who entertains their white rivals.-William Howard Russell : My Diary in India in the Year 1858–59.

(Gypsy), an aunt. Sometimes applied respectfully and affectionately to any middleaged woman. “The title Bibi is in Persian the same as among us señora or doña.” — Texeira : Relacion de Hormuz, A.D. 1611.

A “chopping-bee" is thus described in a western magazine :

Once a clearing was attempted on a large scale. It was for the site of a public institution. The inhabitants within a radius of ten miles were invited to a “chopping - bee." Each one brought his axe and day's provisions. No spirituous liquors were allowed. The work was ordered by an elected marshal of the day. The front rank of trees, ten rods in width, were chopped partially through on either side, then the succeeding ones in like manner for a space of perhaps twenty rods. Then the last rank was felled simul

Beef (Australian convicts' slang),

“stop thief !” introduced by the convicts transported thither. A feature of thieves' cant, and indeed of slang generally, is its fondness for punning and rhyming, e.g., “ cobbler," applied to the last sheep that is shorn, “slang-whang,” and “Bolt-inturns.” Thief was canted into beef because they rhymed.

Boef-stop thief. To beef a person is to raise a hue and cry after him in order to get him stopped.-Vaux's Memoirs.

Beef-Bee.

Beefment (thieves), on the beef

ment, on the look-out.

(English thieves' slang), to beef it, or to give hot beef, is to give chase, pursue, raise a halloo

and cry. I guyed, but the reeler he gave me hot I beef,

And a scuff came about me and hollered; I pulled out a chive, but I soon came to

grief, And with screws and a james I was collared.

-The Referee.

Beef stick (army), the bone of

the meat in the day's rations. A soldier is allowed, at home, three-quarters of a pound of meat, including bone, and when the day's mess dinner is cut up, little but the stick remains for those last served.

(Nautical), a figurative term for strength — “more beef !” more men on; (common), “ beef up!” or “put your beef to it !" An ejaculation meant as a request to use one's strength, to use one's muscles to good account.

(Popular), to be dressed like “Christmas beef,” to be in one's best clothes. Man's poor heart in ecstasy

Will very often beat, When the tart is young.

Beef straight (American). When

a man has nothing but beef for a meal, and must eat it without bread, vegetables, &c., it is beef straight. The same term is applied to any other kind of food

per se. Beef to the heels, like a Mullin

gar heifer. Mr. H. J. Byron says: “The expression beef to the heels is first found, I believe, in the Irish saying, 'A Waterford heifer, beef to the heels.'”. Dolly was not a fine woman, as they say, at all; not beef to the heels, by any means; in a grazier's eye she would have had no charm whatsoever.-Rhoda Broughton : Cometh up as a Flower. Beefy (common), unduly thick,

commonly said of women's ankles; also rich, juicy, plen. teous. To take the whole pool at loo, or to have any particular run of luck at cards generally, is said by players to be very beefy (Hotten). Beefy is also applied to a bloated, red-faced person.

"Tis then he'll go and dress himself

Like unto Christmas beef, When the tart is young!

-When the Tart is Young.

Beef - headed (popular), stupid, dull as an ox. Beef-willed is a provincialism with a like signication. “Beef-witted," that is, dull, thick-headed ; “having no more wit than an ox” is a term used by Shakspeare.

Beef it, to (provincialism). To

beef it is to indulge in a meal of butchers' meat; it only occurs amongst the lower and poorer classes.

Bee in the bonnet (common). To

have a bee in one's bonnet, is to be odd, eccentric, fantastical,

whimsical, or half-crazy. It is supposed to be a peculiarly Scottish phrase, because Scotsmen wear “bonnets,” and Englishmen do not. Its use, however, is not confined to Scotland, but was known in England in the seventeenth century, and is still common. It occurs in a song by Herrick, entitled the “ Mad Maiden,” of the date of 1648:“ For pity, sir, find out that bec, Which bore my love away; I'll seek him in your bonnet brave, I'll seek him in your eyes."

A friend speaking to an Edinburgh lady of a late eminent professor in the University, said he was an excellent man, but he had a bee in his bonnet. “Don't say that,” replied the lady, assuming a look and tone of reproof. “You under-rate him. A bee in his bonnet! Why, he has a whole hive of bees in it!” The French have the corres. ponding expression “avoir un hanneton”—a may-bug.

“Did it fit him well? Was it custommade? Was he measured for it?"

“ Measured for what?" said Abe.

“The umbreller?"-Artemus Ward. Beeno (gypsy), born. “Ki sos o tikno beeno ?”—“Where was the

babe born ?” Been to Bungtown. Been to

Boston (American). It is re-
ported that instances have been
known in which ladies living
in the country have gone “to
town” for the purpose of meet-
ing with lovers, or making them,
“ in loco secreto." So it is said
of one not quite above suspicion,
that she has been there, and should
a foreigner not understanding
the phrase ask where, the answer
may be, to Bungtown. In Phila-
delphia it is said of a very fast
woman, that she has been to, or
comes from Scranton, a town in

Pennsylvania.
Beer barrel (pugilistic), the body.

That draws the bung from the beer
barrel, I'm a thinkin'.-C. Bede: Verdant
Green.
Beerslinger (American), a term

for a barman in a lager-beer
“ saloon" or tavern. It origi.
nated in Philadelphia in 1848–
49, about which time lager-beer
was first brewed in America.
The word “slingers” had pre-
viously been commonly applied
for at least forty years to other
barmen, who were often spoken
of as “ whiskey - slingers ” (a
punning term). “Rum-slingers”.
or“ gin-slingers,” derived in this
instance probably from gin-
sling. In America “sling” is

Been in the sun (popular), intoxi

cated, alluding to the flushed countenance of one who has been drinking heavily.

Been measured for a new um

brella (American), said originally of a man that nothing fitted him but his umbrella. An old joke, reproduced by Artemus Ward, who took his own generally wherever he found it. “Wall, about this time there was a man in an adjacent town who had a green cotton umbrella."

Beerslinger—Beggars.

a very common expression, indi. cating to be engaged with, or to tackle, attack, &c. Hence “ hash-slinger," one who eats at an ordinary table, or one who is eating in any way. “Inkslinger," a writer. “Don't sling your sass at me,” means give me no more of your impudence. "Jerk”and “jerker" are in every way exact synonyms for “sling" and “slinger," e.g., a beerjerker.

Beeswax (common), poor,

soft cheese, sometimes called "sweaty-toe cheese," the French equivalent of which is “pied de facteur.” Applied to persons whom it is difficult to get rid of. Friends conversing together seeing one of this kind coming towards them, frequently say,

"Here's old Beeswax, let's be off.” Beeswaxers (Winchester College).

Thick-soled, laced-up boots are so called, no doubt from being used in damp or snowy weather, after having been besmeared with beeswax, grease, or dubbin, in order to make them

water-tight. Bee - sweetening (American),

honey, more jargon than slang.

I was once a guest in a log-cabin, in a remote part of Indiana, in 1864. There were on the supper-table three kinds of sweetening for the coffee, and yet none of them were made from the cane. “ Will you have,” asked my host, “bee-sweeten. in', tree-sweetenin', or sorghum?" Beesweetenin' was honey, tree-sweetenin' was maple sugar and maple molasses, while sorghum was the coarse molasses made from a kind of Chinese maize.

Beetle-crushers (common), a per

son's foot. More frequently used with the sense of foot of large proportions, large flat foot. Also shoe or boot. Yes, but what horrible boots ! whoever could have had the atwocity to fwame such beetle-crushers.-Rhoda Broughton : Red as a Rose is She.

The expression was first used in Punch, in one of Leech's caricatures. A man with “extrémités canailles," as the French have it, is said to be blessed with “ beetle-crushers and mutton fists." (Army), an infantry soldier is derisively termed beetle - crusher by the cavalry, varied sometimes to “mud-crusher,” a near equi. valent of the French “poussecaillou." Who wouldn't be a millionaire,

A-rolling in his riches ?
Though dolor-ous the load they bear-
Who wouldn't be a millionaire ?
I own the rich man's shoes to wear

My bectle-crusher itches!
Who wouldn't be a millionaire,
A-rolling in his riches?

--Funny Folks. Before - tim (pidgin), formerly,

once, previously, ere now, of old. Old How-qua, he one piecee velly largey Hong machin (merchant), sartin before. tim you plenty healee (have heard of) allo-same How.qua.-How-qua and the Pearls. Beggarbolts (nautical), a term

formerly applied to any missiles thrown from a galley-slaves' boat at an attacking force. Beggars' velvet (common), par

ticles of down shaken from a

Beggars—Bellowsed.

Bell (tramps), a song. Bellerin (American), talking loudly, crying aloud. 'Twas up among de mountains All in de woods an' canes; A nigger came a bellerin An' rushin' throo de wanes.

-Lucy Neal. I hed a plaguey good ol' musket that I'd brung with me from my hum in Jarsey, an' I'd polished an' iled it till it was slick as a whistle, an' I kinder thought I'd open Jeff's eyes a leetle ef I got any kind of a chance to p'int it at one of them air deer Jeff 'd ben a bellerin so much 'bout.-New York Sun.

Bellows (pugilistic), the lungs;

“bellows to mend” was formerly said of a pugilist when winded, and generally of a person out of breath.

bed, and left to accumulate under furniture by the negli gence of housemaids. A more befitting term is “sluts'-wool,” as reflecting on the lazy habits

of the maid.
Begum, a rich widow.
Beilby's ball (old), an old Bailey

executioner. “You will dance
at Beilby's ball, where the sheriff
pays for the music,” from the
name of the executioner in the

time of Jonathan Wild. Be in it, to (common), like the

American phrase “to be on it.”
But the English expression
seems to denote being in trouble,
“ I'm always in it.”
And I was in it, fairly in it!
I fell in the box of eggs and there I

quickly stuck.
I was in it, fairly in it!
I was in it, for it's just my luck.

-Song. Bejant, new student at Aberdeen

University. A corruption of the French béjaune (bec jaune), unsophisticated young man, compared to an unfledged blackbird. The term is applied to the first or lowest class, the second being the “semi-bejants," the third the “tertians,” and

the fourth the “magistrands.” Belay (nautical), stop. “ Belay

that yarn," cease talking, we

have had enough of it. Belch (old), beer. Belcher (roughs), a blue bird's

eye handkerchief. Belial (Oxford), Balliol College.

Bellows, bellowses (American),

the heaves in a horse.

And when old Tom Jefferson sent for me to go to Washington, I was still here with fifteen children and as good a hoss as any man ever sid, only she was blind and had the bellusses.-Uncle Steve's Stump Speech.

(Nautical), an old hand at the bellows, a man up to his work, to his duty. A “fresh hand at the bellows" is said when a gale increases.

Bellowsed (thieves) was said of

one who had “lumped the
lighter” or had been “lagged,"
i.e., transported. As lagged is a
gypsy word, meaning bound or
tied together (Hindu lāgárná),
it is probable that bellowsed is
the common provincial word
belost, which has precisely the
same signification.

Bellowser (pugilistic), a blow that knocks the wind out of the “bellows" or lungs. (Old cant), a sentence of transportation for life; that is, to the convict's last breath when his lungs or

“ bellows" cease to play. Bellows to mend (pugilistic and

athletes). For definition, see BELLOWS. To one gentleman he would pleasantly observe, as he tapped him on the chest, "Bellows for you to mend, my buck!"C. Bede: Verdant Greer. Bell swagger (old), a noisy,

bullying fellow. Bell-topper, that kind of hat

known in England as a “chimney-pot,” a “silk hat,” a “high hat,” a “ top hat,” a “bell-topper," a bell-shaped top hat. The term is, we believe, not unknown to hatters in England, but in Australia it is universally used, often even by refined people. White ones are very much commoner than black in Australia and America, on account of the higher temperature.

When the writer was about to land at Port Melbourne he was warned “a man is of no account in Melbourne without a white bell-topper." Soon after this he went to the Geelong races and ordered a dozen oysters at a stall. The man gave him thirteen by mistake. “Stop,” he said, “you're giving me too many.” The man who was next to him-quite a common man and a little drunkturned round and addressed him

sententiously, “A cove with a white bell-topper should never

be mean." Belly-chere (old cant), food. Belly-chete (old cant), an apron. Bellyful (old), a sound drubbing

or thrashing. Belly-go-firster (old slang), the

first blow, usually given in the

belly. Belly hedges(Shrewsbury School),

an obstruction of a moderate character in steeplechases run

by the boys. Belly plea, the (old), the old slang

term to describe the practice of women condemned to death pleading pregnancy in mitigation or deferment of sentence. This custom is alluded to in the “Beggar's Opera.” In most jails there were men termed “child getters,” who made a practice of qualifying women to put for

ward such a plea. Belly-timber (common), food;

termed also “prog,” “grub." Belly up, a facetious way of allud.

ing to a woman being in the family way.

“So help my greens, if our Sal ain't bin and got her belly

up." Belly-vengeance (common), sour

beer that will give the stomach

ache. Below the belt (tailors), unfair

or mean, from an expression used in boxing or fencing.

(Common), an abbreviation for “Benjamin," a waistcoat (see BENJAMIN); to stand ben, to

treat one to liquor. Benamee (Anglo-Indian, also old

gypsy), anonymous. Hindu, bē. nāmi.

A term specially applied to documents of transfer and other contracts in which the name entered as that of one of the chief parties is not that of the person interested. -Anglo-Indian Glossary.

Benat, benar (old cant), better.

Belt, belt tinker, bellows (tailors),

a very roughly made garment. Belting (nautical), a beating, be

fore the rattan or cat-o'-nine

tails came into use. Belting society (legal), a debat

ing society, formerly held in the

Inns of Court. Beltinker(popular), to give a man

beltinker, to thrash him.

Then they begin using bad language. They swear they'll give me beltinker if they ever hear me again.–Ballad.

Some of the synonyms are “ to give one Jessie, a tanning, a hiding, a walloping, a jacketting, a dusting, to walk into, to quilt, to set about,” the operation being sometimes pushed to “ thrashing one within an inch of his life,” or “knocking

into a cocked hat." Belvidere (popular), a handsome man, an Apollo. Pronounced belvy-dear.

The ladies say I am bewitching,
In fact I'm a real belvidere.
In bar-room, in parlour, in kitchen,
Oh, this is the language I hear.

- The Beautiful Major: Ballad. Bemuse, to (common), to fuddle

oneself with drink. Ben (journalistic and theatrical).

short for benefit.

BENEFIT TO JACK BURKE.-This wellknown boxer, who has had the misfortune to break his leg in two places, is to be accorded a benefit at the Mason's Hall, Bow Common Lane, on Monday, December 5. A capital programme has been organised, and we hope that his fellow pro's will rally round him on the occasion, and give his ben a good send off. M.C.'s Jack Fay, and T. Sands.-Sporting Life.

Ben cull (thieves), a friend, a

comrade, a “pal.” Cull meant formerly a man, a fool ; ben, an abbreviation of the cant term

bene, good. Bend (common), “that's above my bend,” i.e., beyond my power, too expensive or too difficult to perform (Hotten). This has nothing in common with the “Grecian bend,” an affected style of walking as. sumed by some ladies as a flattery to royalty, in keeping with the "Alexandra limp."

Bender (common), a sixpence, so

called because it is easily bent; also “kick," a very old word. In old cant “ half-a-borde," and now a “ tanner," and in thieves' lingo a “cripple."

“What will you take to be paid out?" said the butcher. “The regular chummage is two-and-six; will you take three bob?" "And a bender," suggested the clerical gentleman. - Charles Dickens : Pickwick Papers.

(American), a frolic, relaxation, spree, or “party.” Probably

from the Dutch bende, an assem-
bly, party, or band.
I led her through the festal hall,
Her glance was soft and tender;
She whispered gently in my ear,
“Say, Mose, ain't this a bender?"
- Putnam's Monthly (Bartlett, p. 29).
Hans Breitmann joined de Turners,

November in de Fall,
Und dey gived a boorsten bender
All in de Turner Hall,

-Breitmann and the Turners. Also a leg. Young ladies are not allowed to cross their benders in school. – Longfellow : Kavanagh.

(Thieves and roughs), the arm; over the bender means over the arm, over the left, i.e., not really. In the same way schoolboys said, “I'll do it - fain,” meaning that they will not.

Vaux, in his Memoirs, says: -“Bender is an ironical word used in conversation by flash people; as where one party affirms or professes anything which the other believes to be false or insincere, the latter expresses his incredulity by exclaiming bender! or if one asks another to do an act which the latter considers unreasonable or impracticable, he replies, 'Oh, yes; I'll do it- bender,' meaning by the addition of the last word that in fact he will do no such thing."

fifteen years ago, became a

convert and preacher. Bendover (Winchester) is to place yourself in such a posture as to give one so disposed an oppor

tunity of “spanking” you.
Bene, ben (old cant), good.
A gage of ben Rom-bouse,

In a bousing-ken of Rom-vile,
Is benar than a Caster, Peck, pannam,

lay,
Or popler, which we mill in dense-a.

vile. --Thomas Middleton. “Stowe your bene” is thus explained“What, stowe your bene, cose, and cut benar wydds."--Harman : Caveat.

1.e., “What, hold your peace, good fel. low, and speak better words.'

A bene mort, a pretty woman.
Oh! where will be the culls of the bing,

A hundred stretches hence ?
The bene morts, who sweetly sing,
A hundred stretches hence ?

-A Hundred Stretches Hence. Bene darkmans (old cant), good

night. Bene flakes (old cant), bill-for

gers. Beneship (old cant), very well. Ben-flake (thieves), a steak at a

“slap-bang,” i.e., a low cooking

shop or eating-house. Beng (gypsy), devil, flame ; ben

galo, bengescro, devilish. Also bengis or bengus. Bengis his zē (zee), (May) the devil (be in) his heart. Paspati, also Pott. Thes. ii. 407, arguing from mere resemblance of sound, derives beng from benk, a frog, or beng, a frog, or benga, squint-eyed in Hindu. But as bengel in German and

Bendigo (common), nearly obso

lete. A fur cap named from a
noted pugilist, who is said to
have got his nickname from
his skill at “ducking.” This
"muscular Christian," some

Ben joltræm (old), poor and

coarse food, such as agricultural men, navigators, and men working on roads, have to put up with.

Dutch means a mischievous, evil fellow or scamp, there is probably some Aryan root which would furnish a more direct connection with the evil principle. “As if yuv had dikked o' beng te sā,"— “As if he had seen the devil and all."

--English Gypsy Songs. Perhaps it comes from beq, Hindu, but of Mongol origin, meaning lord or master. The Spanish gypsies call the devil by a similar term, el buen baron,

the good baron or lord. Bengi (military), an onion. Ori

gin obscure, but it may be referred to the Hindustani beng or bhang, from its pungent taste; or again, it may be a form of the Hindu bhindi (often pronounced like bengi), the okra of America, also called bendy and bámia. One variety of it is

about the size of an onion. Bengy, a waistcoat, is from the

gypsy bangri. Benighted, the (Anglo-Indian),

a term applied in raillery to the inhabitants of Madras by their

envious neighbours. Benjamin or benjie (common), a waistcoat or coat, formerly a “Joseph.” Possibly an allusion to Joseph's garment left in Madame Potiphar's grasp. Dr. C. Mackay says it was so named from a once celebrated advertising tailor in London.

(Nautical), a low crowned straw hat, with a very broad brim.

Bens (American), tools, styled

"alls” by English workmen. Benvenue (printers), obsolete.

This was a kind of entrance-fee paid by the workman to the “ chapel" on entering a new office. Equivalent to “standing his footing." Derived from the French apparently, bienvenue, welcome, footing, used in the ex

pression “ payer la bienvenue.” Beong (costermongers), a shilling;

in old cant a “borde” and now a “bob;" from the Italian bianco, white, also a silver coin. An equivalent for this is to be found in most slangs. For instance, in Dutch thieves' slang, witten; in German, blanker ; Italian, biancon. Formerly French

silver coins were termed blancs. Beray (old cant), dung, dirty. Berk, burk, pl. berkia (gypsy),

breast, breasts. Bero (gypsy), a ship or boat; beromengro, a sailor; beromescro, pertaining to a ship, naval. “Ghiom adré a béro"_“I went in a ship,” in common jargon "mandy-jawed (or jassed), adré

a bero." Berthas (Stock Exchange), Lon.

don, Brighton, and South Coast Railway Company, ordinary stock.

Dear Bertha, I have not forgotten,
She's really a feature in “rails ;"
And tho' some of my tips have been rotten,
I landed some money in “mails."

-Atkin : House Scraps. Besh (gypsy), a year. Continental

gypsy, bersh. Dui besh, two

years. Beshāva (gypsy), I sit, common

form besh; Besh tu alay, sit down; beshella, he sits. “Who besh in ye pus, around the yag"

-“Who sit in the straw around the fire.”—G. Borrow : Lavengro. Beshermengro (gypsy), one who

sits, a magistrate. Bespeak-night (common), a night

in theatrical performance set apart for the special benefit of some actor or actress-a benefit

in modern phraseology. Best (common), to best a man,

to have the better of one in any way. And this great party, the noble army of consumers, would cry out at any attempt to raise the price of the commodity for the benefit of the producers, whom, by a curious perversion of mind, they consider their natural enemies, to be bested at every possible opportunity.--Evening News.

To cheat. When I went to the fence he bested me because I was drunk, and only gave me £8, ios. for the lot.-Horsley : Jott. ings from Jail.

(Thieves), to give in best, to affect repentance.

If when in the magisterial presence he contorts his countenance in affected agony, it is merely because he perceives from his worship's tone that he wishes to agonise him, and is shrewd enough to know that to "give in best," as he would express it, is the way to get let off easy.-). Green. wood: The Seven Curses of London.

Bester (popular), one who gets

the better. Also a low betting

cheat, a blackleg. Best girl (American), the preferred

one; a sweetheart. “Did you ever hear," asked my best girl, as we drove along Delaware Avenue, past the elegant grounds of Jonathan Scoville. “why Mr. Scoville never built that costly residence he had planned ?"- Detroit Free Press. Besting (running), to get the

better of any one by unfair means. Besting the pistol (running),

where a runner gets the best of the starter, and is away on his journey when the pistol

goes off. Bet a seed, to (American), to bet

the smallest chip or counter,

i.e., stake, in the game of poker. Be there, to (common), to be in

one's element, to be knowing at

a thing. I very soon began to preach and prate, And with the sisters played some funny

pranks, I was so good at nobbling with the plate,

They soon made me captain of the ranks; And often when our meetings were dis

persed, With sister Jane I'd offer up a prayer, I'd such a jolly spree when she took me

home to tea, For I know what it is to be there !-Song. Better than a dig in the eye with

a blunt stick (common). The expression is used to denote a thing of little value.

no great risk can be run. Com monly called “getting round." Betty (thieves), a skeleton key

or picklock, termed also tivvil, twist, screw; all Betty, it is all

up! past recovery. Bet, you (American), you may be

sure of it, you may safely bet that it is true. We reached the settlement of Ubet. The name had been selected from the slang phrase so laconically expressive of “You may be sure I will."... A night marauder took advantage of a good moon to place a ladder against a window, hoping to secure the property of a gentleman asleep within the chamber. As he lifted the window and put his head in the gentleman woke up, and with great promptness presented his six-shooter, shouting out, “You get !” With equal promptness the detected thief exclaimed, “ You bet !" and slid down the ladder,-et procul in tenuem ex oculis cvanuit auram. – Alex. Stavely Hill: From Home to Home. Bever (obsolete), a slight repast

between meals, an afternoon lunch, a meal eaten in a hurry. It was in use at the English and American universities. At the former the bevers consisted of a portion of bread and an allowance of beer laid out in the hall in the afternoon, a break of a quarter of an hour in school time being allowed in summer for this refreshment. The peculiar nature of the repast was a relic of the old founders' days. Old English bever, a drinking; from the old French bevre, to

drink. Bevy or bevali (common), beer;

abbreviation of beverage. Gypsy pivi, drink; Slavonian pivo, beer.

Other appellations for beer are “gatter, oil of barley, bug juice, ponjello”; and were it the best of Bass's it is termed by board

ing-school boys “swipes.” Bewer (tinkers' slang), a woman.

“Misli to my bewer "_" Write
(i.e., go or send) to my woman."

Young bew'r, a girl.
B flats (popular), bugs.

Mrs. B. beheld one night a stout negro of the flat-backed tribe, known among comic writers as the B fiats, stealing up toward the head of the people.-Household Words. Bheesty (Anglo-Indian), a water

carrier. “The universal word in the Anglo-Indian households of Northern India for the domestic who supplies the family with water, carrying it in a mussuck or goat's skin on his back. No class of men is so diligent, so faithful, unobtrusive, and so uncomplaining as the bihistis."

- Anglo-Indian Glossary. Here comes a seal carrying a porpoise on its back. No! it is only our friend the bheesty.--In my Indian Garden. Bible (nautical), a hand axe ; also

a square piece of freestone to grind the deck with sand in cleaning it; a small holystone, so called from seamen using

them kneeling.-Admiral Smyth. Bible carrier (common), a person

who sells songs without singing

them (Hotten). Bible-clerk (Winchester), a col.

lege prefect who has to read the lessons in chapel, to keep order in school, to open the doors for masters, to keep up 105.

Bible-clerk-Big-bird.

every morning for Prefects, &c., by the junior man in each “gallery” or bed-room. The origin of the word is possibly due to the French bidet, an article of bed-room furniture for the use of ladies, more common on the Continent than in England. (American), an Irish servant girl.

Biff (Americanism), to give a “biff

in the jaw," to strike one in the face. In England to “fetch you a wipe in the mug," or “give you a bang in the chops," are choice. Bit is from the provincial English befet or buffet, a blow; old French bufét. Possibly Anglo-Saxon bifjan, to shake.

the fire, and assist at flogging. He holds his office for a week at a time. Bible-clerks come into course now (since “ Cloisted time” 1872) on Wednesday instead of Saturday. A Bibleclerk's scob is the first “scob” (box spelt backwards, phonetically) on the right hand as you enter school. It bears a brass plate with the inscription engraved on it: “ Tw det ivayvwotn”_"To each successive reader,” because Bible-clerks used to read the lessons at meals. Bible-pounder (popular), a parson;

termed also a "white-choker,” a “ devil-dodger,” a “cushionsmiter.” Bibling (Winchester), a flogging

consisting of six cuts on the small of the back administered by the head or second master. The term is obsolete. The bibling-rod was an instrument with which the punishment of bibling was administered. It consisted of a handle terminated by four apple-tree twigs. Underneath is the place of execution where delinquents are “ bibled.” It need hardly be said that it (the rod) is applied in the ordinary fashion, six cuts forming what is technically called a bibling, on which occasion the Bible-clerk introduces the victim ; and four being the sum of a less terrible operation called a "scrubbing." -Blackwood's Edinburgh Magasine. Biddable (common), docile, obe

dient to order, tractable. Biddy (Winchester College), a

bath in college which was filled

Biffin (popular), “my bifin” is a

friendly appellation. "Ain't that up to Dick, my biffin?” “I never said it warn't.” – J. Greenwood : Under the Blue Blanket.

Big as all out o' doors, a humorous Americanism for any. thing unusually or abnormally large.

The infarnal villain! Tell me who he is, and if he was as big as all out-doors I'd walk into him.

He is looking as big as all out-doors jist now, and is waitin' for us to come to him.-Sam Slick: The Clockmaker,

Big-bird (theatrical), to “get the big-bird,” to be hissed. The bird is supposed to be, and is very often, a goose. French actors call hissing “appeler Azor," this being the usual name for a dog.

“What's your brother doing?”.

"Oh! he's an awful big bug now. The Minister of Railways has got him a billet in the Civil Service."

“ What's the billet ?"

“Railway-porter at Lal Lal." - Vic. torian Comic Paper.

Big country (sport), the open

country.

In the roomy stalls of the stables you make the acquaintance of Donative, who bore his lord and master to victory over three miles of big country.-- The World.

Big dog with a brass collar, the,

the principal or head of a concern, or the biggest “wig" of a place.

Big bugs (American), an expres

sion for great people, people of consequence, aristocrats. Bartlett thinks that this word suggests some anecdote which would be “worth finding out." There is no lack in American newspapers of anecdotes explaining the origin of popular phrases, but unfortunately about ninety-nine in a hundred of them are manufactured afterwards by some ingenious humourist to suit the case. The following, which is of recent origin, might easily pass for one of these valuable originals. Those which have already appeared on Chestnut, sworn to by as many authorities as those cited by Autolycus, would fill a chapter.

It puts me in mind of a story once heard from an old man. He was speaking of a rich neighbour who was going for the first time to New Orleans. “Yes," he said, “Mr. Jones is a mighty big man round here, but he won't stand a chance to shine down there. He'll be like the bug who lived on a pumpkin, and because he was twice as big as any other bug round there, he allowed he was the largest insect on earth. But one day there came two or three of them big gold beetles, and lit on the pumpkin in all their original splendour, and Mr. Pumpkin Bug jest turned pale and crawled down underneath. “Children," says he, “I wouldn't hey thought it, but there's bigger bugs in the world than what I be!"-Queer Bits. While my wife goes out washin', an

cleanin' big bug houses, I'll have a shop down-town for renovatin

trousers.--A Bootblack's Soliloquy.

In the Australian lingo big bugs has also the meaning of man of importance.

Big fellow (Australian Blackfel

low's lingo), large, a quantity; a specimen of the pidgin English stuffed with Blackfellow's words used by the whites on stations in their intercourse with the aborigines. “Too much big fellow water, bait (ply) fly come up bait pind (find) him," answers the aboriginal, adding, however, the ques. tion, “You patter potchum ?" (eat possum). -A. C. Grant.

Biggin (Winchester, &c.), a coffee

pot consisting of two parts-a strainer, and a coffee-pot. “ It is very odd," said Hatton to his companion Morley, "you can't get coffee anywhere." Morley, who had supposed that coffee was about the commonest article of consumption in Mowbray, looked a little surprised; but at this moment Hatton's servant entered with a mysterious yet somewhat triumphant air, and ushcring in a travelling biggin of their own, fuming like one of the springs of Geyser, “Now try that,” said Hatton to Morley, as the servant poured him out a cup.--Disraeli: Sybil.

My name is Peter Smifkins,

I live with ma at Slough;
I've got a city clerkship,
So I'm quite a big pot now.

-Music Hall Song Big side runs (Rugby), the open

paper chases. Big sides (schools), a school term

for the practice games at football, where all or nearly all the boys join in. It was originally

used at Rugby. Big take (American), anything

very much affected or popular, A grand acquisition, a fashion, a success. We hear that certain fragrant and cun. ningly contrived bouquets for ladies are a big take in New York. In the centre of the pretty bunches of flowers half-pint bottles are neatly concealed. The bottles are filled with cool refreshing cocktails ; straws run through the corks, and as the gentle daughters of Eve take a sniff, they can enjoy a "snifter."-Fun.

of the college. - Thackeray: Lovell the Widower.

Talbot Twysden's dinner-table is large, and the guests most respectable. There is always a big-wig or two present.Thackeray: The Adventures of Philip.

This morning he went up of his own accord afore the Lord Mayor or some of them city big-wigs.-Dickens : Martin Chuzalewit.

(Nautical), a high officer. Bikin (gypsy), to sell; bikin engro,

a merchant, or one who sells. Bildar or beldars (Anglo-Indian),

a term applied to diggers with
the spade or mattock in the pub-
lic works.
Ye lyme is allé out-ye masons lounge

aboute!
Ye beldars have alle strucke and are

smoking att their eese, Ye brickes are alle done ! Ye kyne are skynne and bone, And ye threasurour has bolted wyth xii thousand rupees!

-Anglo-Indian Glossary. Bilk (common), to defraud, to

cheat, to obtain goods without paying for them, to cheat the driver of a hackney carriage or a girl from whom one has received the sexual favour; a bilk, a deception. The term has long been in use. And all the vile companions of a street Keep a perpetual bawling at the door : Who beat the bawd last night? who bilkt the whore ?

-Earl of Rochester's Works. I don't intend to bilk my lodgings. Fielding: Tom Jones.

But as upon the scene I cast
My wond'ring gaze, a friend went past.
His nose was red, he reeled along,
And when I asked him what was wrong,
Strong drink, he said, was (hic!) a bilk,
And so he had been drinking-milk!

Big, to look (common), to assume

an inflated air or manner. To “ talk big," to talk in a boasting manner, from the propensity of very small men to assume "bumptious” or defiant ways. These expressions have almost

ceased to be slang. Big wig (common), a pompous,

conceited individual. Also ap. plied by the lower classes to those in a high station of life or office. Thus a judge or nobleman will be termed a big wig. The word is used in a good-humoured, familiar sense.

The portraits of Holy Bonifacius, Bishop of Budgeon, and all the defunct big wigs

-Scraps.

the more expert of these bilkers have even jumped out of “hansoms" in dark roads or lanes unperceived by their drivers when the "two-wheelers ” have been running at eight or nine miles an hour.— Tit Bits.

(Popular), one who gets a bed at a lodging-house and does not pay for it.

Besides, the sympathies of the other lodgers are always with the bilker, and if they took any part in a scuffle, should such a thing arise, it would be in his favour and against the porter.-Thor Fredur: Sketches from Shady Places.

To “do a bilk,” to defraud, specially used in the case of prostitutes who are cheated, in the French slang “poser un la. pin.” Most etymologists derive the word bilk from the Gothic bilaikan, to mock, to deride.

Bilk, as provincial or old Eng. lish, meaning to cheat or defraud (Wright), is a form of balk, which has the same meaning, in the sense of hindering a man in his rights. Balk, to hinder, is, according to Skeat (Etymol. Dict.) from balk, a beam or bar; to put a balk or bar in a man's way. Anglo-Saxon balea. But as English it is probably from a Danish source, bjælka, Old Norse bialki (Ettmüller, Lex. Ang. Saxonicum), which brings us directly to bilk.

“ Bilking the blues,” in prison slang, is evading the police. In society a man who, though never actually found out, is strongly suspected of cheating at cards, would be called a bilk.

Bilking (popular), explained by

quotation.

The consequence is that all duties are discharged in such a place in the most slovenly manner, and that as many as pos. sible are shirked, with consequences in the way of bilking, or getting beds without paying for them.-Thor Fredur: Sketches from Shady Places. Bill (Eton), in the bill, on the

punishment list.

Some of the small boys whom this delightful youth tempted to ape his habits, had often occasion to rue it when they staggered back to college giddy and sick, carrying with them a perfume which told its tale to their tutors, and caused them to be put in the bill.-- Brinsley Richards : Seven years at Eton.

Bill. a long or short (common), a

term of imprisonment. Out of prison, Larry! Lord save me ! yev've had a short bill this time for kick. ing a woman.-Savage London.

Bilker (common), same meaning

as bilk in the sense of cheat, but specially applied to rascals . who defraud prostitutes or cab. men.

A third and frequent means of evading payment of cab fares is for riders late at night, or in the small hours of the morn. ing, to stealthily get out of the vehicles in motion, and then run off unobserved. Some of these malpractitioners have become so skilful in this action that they have left the cabs and gently closed the door afterwards without being seen, when they were being driven along at six or seven miles an hour. In a few instances

Bill brighters (popular), small

fagots employed in the kitchen to light the fires.

Billed up (army), confined to bar

racks, a term peculiar to Her Majesty's Guards, to whom a punishment which curtails free

dom of movement is no doubt especially irksome.

Probably introduced into Australia by the convicts transported thither. To “give on the billiard slum,” to “mace” or “give upon the mace," i.e., to obtain goods on credit which you never mean to pay for, to run up a score with the same intention, or to sponge upon your acquaintance by continually begging or borrowing from them (Vaux's Memoirs). To parallel the pun between “mace” and billiard slum, cf. “bolt-in-tun," “cob. bler,” &c. Slang, and especially thieves' slang, is very addicted to these puns.

Billet(Australian, popular), a situa

tion. A billet is as universal a term for a situation as “screw" is for a salary in Australia, or “ bobby" for policeman in England. The metaphor is of course taken from billets or quarters being found for soldiers, who are then said to be " billeted out" in military parlance. Thus one of the commonest slang words in Australia

Up country billets oft are loss,
Work for “tucker"-trust the boss.
- Edward Fitzgerald: Printers'

Proverbs in the Australasian

Printer's Keepsake. Billet is used in England with a like signification. In prisons “getting a billet” is being appointed to some office which procures certain advantages for the convict who is fortunate enough to receive the favour. Some time later on I renewed my acquaintance with P u nder difficulties which were not altogether insurmountable, and as he walked behind me in the exercise ground, he told me the story of his commercial career. Being a “communion bloke" and a “good character" man, he soon got a billet. He was enrolled amongst the “cleaners," and promoted to be the “chaplain's orderly,” which was the only billet I wished to obtain for myself. He secured it, and on a Sunday solemnly marched up the pulpit stairs to open the Bible or Prayer Book, and fix therein at the proper places the hymns and anthems to be sung by the congregation. This was his Sunday's duty.-Evening News.

Billingsgate pheasant (common),

a red herring or bloater, otherwise known under the appellation of “Yarmouth capon” or “two-eyed steak.”

Bill of sale (old slang), widows'

weeds. Billy (Scotch), a silk handerchief,

also used by thieves ; (common), a policeman's staff ; (thieves), stolen metal; (New Zealand and Australia), a saucepan. In the Bush, everything-tea, soup, or anything else-is boiled in the billy, a tin saucepan with a wire poop-handle to carry it by. The sundowner or swagman, tramping the country in search of work, invariably carries this billy and a blanket. In the latter all his worldly goods are usually strapped up; sometimes he goes so far as having a bit of mackintosh sheeting outside the blanket to keep it dry. He will

Billiard slum, the (Australian con

victs' slang), false pretences.

“fig"

rig,

be seen “humping” (carrying)

these on the hottest day. So much for our hero! A statuesque foot Would suffer by wearing that heavy nailed boot

Its owner is hardly Achilles : However, he's happy. He cuts a great In a land where a coat is no part of the

In the country of “damper" and

billies.

-Dr. Kendall: Tim the Splitter. Billy boy (nautical), a Yorkshire

vessel, with one mast. Billy-button (thieves' slang),

rhyming slang for mutton; also acontemptuous term for a young

journeyman tailor. Billy buzman (thieves), a pick

pocket who confines his attention exclusively to silk handker

chiefs. Billycock (Australian), a kind of

hat. The billycock is a low, round, hard-felt hat with a turned-up brim. Hotten describes it as a soft felt hat of the Jim Crow or “wide-awake"

description. Billy-fencer (popular), a marine

store dealer. Billy-hunting (popular), buying

old metal; one of the occupations of a “billy-fencer" or marine-store dealer. (Thieves), going out for the purpose of

stealing pocket-handkerchiefs. Billy-stink (Anglo-Indian), a name

given by Europeans in India to the vile liquids of native manufacture sold in the bazaars.

Billy-stink is the very appropriate name given by Europeans to one of those maddening native compounds. It would indeed be very hard to say what the component properties of this very highly. flavoured fluid consist of.... When drinking any of the odoriferous mixture it is a common thing for individuals to press the apertures pertaining to their nasal appendage between thumb and forefinger. Brunlees Patterson : Life in the Ranks. Bims, bimshise (West Indian).

Barbadoes and its inhabitants are so nicknamed throughout the West Indies. A recent traveller hazards the following ingenious explanation—which if not true ought to be so—of these terms, which are confessedly obscure in their derivation. “Barbadoes is known all the world over as the little island that pays her way; it has never been conquered ; its people are enterprising and energetic, go-ahead and driving ; in short, the business men of these islands (the Caribbees). Barbadian may therefore, be said to mean a man with 'go' and grit, energy

and vim.” Bing (gypsy), the devil; (old cant)

a liquor shop, as a rum bing ; to bing, to go, to attack, shoot. “Could you not have turned him on his back like a turtle, and left him there?" said Lord Etherington. “And had an ounce of lead in my body for my pains ? No, no! we have already had footpad work enough. I promise you the old buck was armed as if he meant to bing folks on the low toby."-Scott: St. Ronan's Well,

Bing avast (old cant derived

from gypsy), an angry command to be off, meaning literally, “go

to the devil.” Beng English gypsy; Scottish gypsy bing, meaning the devil, and avast from avāva second present indicative and imperative, avāsa or avessa “thou goest,” or “go thou.” Full form, bing avas tu ! or awaste. It is probable that in Harman's vocabulary a is by accident separated from wast. Bing, the devil, is not to be confounded with the same word in “to bing out," in old cant, nor avast with avast, in its other meaning. It is probable that those who made the old cant, having learned from gypsies that bing avast meant “go to the devil," considered that bing meant “go" or “come” a distance, and used it as such. Bing out, bien morts and toure, For all your duds are binged awast.

-Old Song, 1560. Binge (Oxford), a big drinking

bout. To binge is a provincialism for to soak a vessel in water to prevent its leaking. It is also a nautical term meaning to rinse a cask. This word seems to be connected with bung, the orifice in the bilge of a cask, through

which it is filled. Bingo (old cant), probably of gypsy origin. Spirits or brandy. Pass round the bingo, son of a gun, You musty, dusky, husky son!

- Lord Lytton : Paul Clifford. Some soda-water, with a dash of bingo, clears one's head in the morning.-T. Hughes : Tom Brown at Oxford.

" Bingo boy," a drunkard; “bingo mort,” female dramdrinker.

Bing (gypsy), the devil, an evil spirit, probably suggested the word. Puns on spirit in its twofold meaning have always been common both in English andgypsy. Bengalo pani (gypsy),

rum. Bingy (trade), a term largely used

in the butter trade to denote

bad, ropy butter (Hotten). Binnacle-word (nautical), any

learned or affected word used in the navy, which the sailors jeeringly offer to chalk upon

the binnacle. Binni (tinker), small; binny soobli,

a boy; lit., small man. Birch broom (thieves), rhyming

slang for room. Birdcage, a slang term in vogue

among the lower orders for a bustle, or in more modern slang a “dress-improver.” This part of a lady's toilet is a kind of pad or cushion worn at the back of the dress for the purpose of expanding the skirts, and, in some cases, making up for certain deficiencies in the wearer's form. Those now in fashion are immensely elongated structures, little suggestive of the human form; some are built on the principle of the old crinoline, with wire or steel ribs, hence the appellation of birdcage. She was walking in her best clothes on Bank Holiday, when a crossing sweeper knocked up against her, and being a perfect lady she was all over his chevy before he'd time to turn round, and they took her by the chignon and the birdcage and

waltzed her into Vine Street quicker than a wink. - Sporting Times.

Me and Jane was at Greenwich last week. The hill's very nice, but Jane quite spiled her birdcage rollin' down. A new dress, too.-Ally Sloper's Half-Holiday.

(Racing), the saddling pad. dock adjoining the Grand Stand at Newmarket.

(Popular), a four-wheeled cab, otherwise known by the appro

priate appellation of “growler." Bird-lime (thieves), rhyming slang

for time. Birdseye (popular), a handker.

chief. Were they lurking at this secluded spot until what they thought was a good time to sheer off with the “swag"? Was that the swag tied up in the blue birdseye ?-J. Greenwood : In Strange Company. Bird's eye fogle, a (prize-fighters),

the name of a scarf tied round their waists by prize-fighters in the ring ; a neckerchief or handkerchief with white spots on a black, blue, or other ground. Pogle, from the German vogel, a bird. Bird's eye wipe (common), a ker

chief, either for the pocket or neck, with blue spots on it. Birk (back slang), a “crib," i.e.,

house. Birthday suit (common), the suit

of our first parents before they

had a bite in the apple. Bish (Anglo-Indian), poison ; San

skrit, vīsha, poison. An old English gypsy once asked me if I knew what becsa meant. He said it

was a kind of poison made from beans. I
recognised in it at once an Indian word
for poison, especially aconite.
Bishop (horse-dealers), to bishop a

horse is a swindling contrivance
resorted to in order to deceive
buyers as to its age. An old
horse has no black streaks on
his teeth, and by some process
these are made to appear; from
a north of England term. See
Bishop's FOOT.

(Common), the chamber utensilor“ jordan;" also, latterly, an "it.” The last is derived from the humorous description of Max O’Rell in “ John Bull's Womankind," p. 15:— “Better still, would you believe that in very good houses I have seen, and very plainly too, ... yes, positively, I have seen It on the floor under the washstand ?" Bishop's court. In most Austra

lian sees the bishop's Palace is called bishop's court. Perhaps palaces are considered unsuitable for democratic communities; just as it is not correct to address a colonial bishop as “my lord.” In practice, however, they are always addressed “my lord.” Not to do so would be an incivility.

Bishop's foot, to bishop (Low

land Scotch and North of England), the devil's foot. Milk burned in the pan is, in the North of England, said to be bishoped. In Fifeshire the expression is applied to food that has been scorched in cooking or otherwise spoiled—“ the

bishop's foot's in it.” The bishop means the devil, and the saying is probably a relic of the times of the Reformation, when in Scotland everything connected with prelacy was considered to be bad.

Bisser (gypsy), to forget.

Bit (American), correctly the old

Spanish “real,” equal to twelve and a half cents, or about sixpence. In England the now seldom seen fourpenny - piece was called a fourpenny-bit, also a “joey,” from the late Joseph Hume, M.P., who extolled its convenience in a speech which he made in Parliament. In Pennsylvania the “real” was called an elevenpenny-bit,--bit being a translation of the Spanish “peso,” a piece or bit (as it was popularly understood), and signified any coin. Since this Spanish and Mexican money was withdrawn from circulation the term bit is applied to the “dime.” The * medio" or “ half-real" was in Philadelphia called a fippenny. bit (fivepenny), which was ab. breviated to “fip," as “elevenpenny-bit" became contracted to “levy." This old Spanish currency became so worn that the “levy,” which was legally worth twelve and a half cents, often weighed less than the tencent silver piece or “dime," and it was said that boys were in the habit of filing down and smoothing the latter so

as to make them pass for the former. A Philadelphian is always stylish and fashionable when he owns twelve and a half cents, for then he can always hold a levy (levee). ---Vanity Fair, 1861.

(West Indian), a bit is a fourpenny piece. In Demerara the negroes make this one of their units of calculation. Thus a shilling is three bits, and so on.

(Popular), fourpence. Bitch, to (old slang), to give way

through fear. The primary meaning is to sport. (Common), “to be” or “to stand bitch," from the gypsy bitcher or bitch, to send away, let go, or yield. “Don't bitcher it because you're at rash"--"Don't let it go because you're afraid."

To assume a woman's functions in making tea, presiding at the

table, &c. Bitchadey-pawdel (gypsy), trans

ported. Bitch booby (old military slang),

a country girl. Bitcher (gypsy), to send. Hence

to order or command. Bitcher. ing kérs, police or assize-courts. See To Bitch.

Bitcherin mush (gypsy), a magis

trate. Bitcher-pawdel (gypsy), to trans

port.

Bitch party (university), tea party;

only suitable for women in the minds of the coiners of this

irreverent expression. “Will you be old bitch ?" means “Will you make tea ?”

Biter (old), a woman of inordinate

sexual desires.

Bite the ear, to (prison slang),

to borrow. “I bit his ear for three and a sprat”-I borrowed 35. 6d. of him.

Bite the roger, to (thieves), to

steal a portmanteau.

Bite the wiper, to (thieves), to

steal a pocket-handkerchief.

Bite, to (common), to take in, im

pose on, cheat, over-reach in any way. Hotten says this is a gypsy term, but does not prove it. “ Cross-bite, for a cheat, constantly occurs in the writers of the sixteenth century. Bailey has cross-bite, a disappointment, probably the primary sense, and bite is very probably a contraction of this.” It is much more probably derived from the Dutch buiten, which in slang means, according to Teirlinck, to buy, or trade, and which is more accurately defined by Gherard van der Scheuren (Teuthonista oft Duytslender, 1475-77) as “ Buyten, wesselen mangeln, cuyden ; tuyschen-cambire, permutare,” &c. These words all mean to trade, exchange, or barter ; but tuyschen indicates cheating, or swindling ; combining the force of the analogous German words tauschen, to exchange or trade, and täuschen,

to deceive. Hotten also says that bite is a north country word for a hard bargain (used by Pope), and that Swift tells us that it originated with a nobleman in his day. According to Sewel's Dictionary, buit is booty, spoil, pillage ; buiten, among other meanings, has “ to go out to pillage,” and “ zich te buyten gaan” (i.e., to go out, or away, or too far) is “to be exorbitant.” When we remember that byten means in Dutch to bite, and buyten (which has almost the same pronunciation) to bargain with all the associations of deceit and plunder, it seems much more probable that bite, a hard bargain, or bite, to cheat, came from the Low Countries direct, than from an English word signifying “ disappointment."

Bite was formerly used as an interjection equivalent to the modern expression "sold!” There is a story of a man sentenced to the gallows who sold his body to a surgeon. ...

It is a superstition with some surgeons who beg the bodies of condemned malefactors, to go to the gaol and bargain for the carcass with the criminal himself. ... The fellow who killed the officer of Newgate, very forwardly, and like a man who was willing to deal, told him, “Look you, Mr. Surgeon, that little dry fellow, who has been half-starved all his life, and is now half-dead with fear, cannot answer your purpose. ... Come, for twenty shillings I am your man.” Says the surgeon, “Done, there's a guinea." This witty rogue took the money, and as soon as he had it in his fist, cries, “Bite, I am to be hanged in chains."-Spectator, No. 504.

Bit on, a (common), slightly in

toxicated.

The gallant captain was a bit or. He wanted to make some purchases there and then.--Sporting Times. Bit of sticks (sporting), a copse. The form of the master, his white head,

who bends With his fine old school air, deferential

and courtly, As his hand to our Belle's tiny boot

tip he lends. “ Boots and saddles" the word is :--and

ye who would follow For a last stirrup-cup loiter not nor

delay! For from yon bit of sticks will ere long

the view-holloa Ring the rise of the curtain, the start of the play.

-Sporting Times. Bit of stuff (familiar), over

dressed man; a man with full confidence in his appearance and ability. A young woman of dissolute life, who is also called a “bit of muslin."

(Common), a draft or bill of exchange.

I am sorry that bit of stuff (meaning the bill) wasn't for five thousand francs. Lever: The Dodd Family Abroad.

Biting his hips (tailors), regret.

ting what he has done or said.

Biting up (tailors), grieving for

something lost or gone.

Biting your name in (popular),

taking a large draught of some

liquor, drinking deep or greedily. Bit of blood, a spirited horse that

has some blood.

Bit of cavalry, a saddle horse.

Bits of stiff (popular), bank notes.

Bit of leaf (prison), a small quan

tity of tobacco.

The same rigid rule is in force at Port. land. I suppose it is because the convicts almost to a man set such a high value on a bit of leaf, regarding it as the greatest luxury of their lives, that the authorities are so severe in their endeavours to keep it from them. But they get it for all that. --). Greenwood : Gaol Birds at Large.

Bitter (general), to “do a bitter,"

to have a glass of bitter ale. Originally an Oxford term. Into the “Cri." of an evening I slip, And into the cool sparkling bitter I dip.

-Music Hall Song. Bitto, bitti (gypsy), a bit, a little,

small, little. A bitto mūsh, a small man; bitli dir, fainter, lower (voice), less, smaller;

Bit of mutton (common), a nice woman, generally in a questionable sense.

Yes, John Bull is a blamed blockhead. -Sam Slick.

“Man alive! This ain't the boat; this is the ferry house !"

“Yew-don-say so!" slowly ejaculated the sunburned old fellow. “An' here I've been a waitin' three hours for the blamed thing to start for Brooklyn!"- Drake's Traveller's Magazine.

“Damnation !” is sometimes softened into “ blamenation!"

blade as a synonym for sword, and a soldier. And this seems to be borne out by the analogy of a similar French expression, une bonne lame, which formerly meant a man of the world, a dashing man. Blade is still used in the provinces for a brisk, mettlesome, sharp young man. But as it has the same pronunciation as the Dutch bloed, meaning “blood," and as a blood was the common term for “a fast, and high-mettled man” during the reigns of the Georges, it is not impossible it owes much to the latter. The word was also a personal noun in Dutch, as een arme bloed, a poor fellow. Bloed, a simpleton, is from a different root; bloode, timid, fearful; Irish blate, German blöde. Roysterers and debauchees were also termed “roaring boys."

I do not all this while account you in
The list of those are called the blades

that roar In brothels, and break windows ; fright

the streets At midnight worse than constables,

Shirley: The Gamester.

Blan (gypsy), the wind.
Blank (hunting), to draw a blank

in coursing or hunting is to
have a run without meeting
with anything. Quite recently
the term blank has been adopted
as a substitute for “ damn,"
“ bloody," and other forcible
expressions.

Here you've been and gone three hours on an errand for me, and blank me if you ain't runnin' off without a word about it.Bret Harte : Gabriel Conroy.

“For blank's sake, sir, give me the orffice, you knows me surely, and that I'm square. Vell, then, give me the orffice, so help me blank I'll keep it dark."

Enter a closely-shaven, bullet - headed fellow in an ecstasy of excitement at having just seen Cuss, and at the exquisite "fitness" of that worthy. “So help my blank, blank !" he cries delightedly, "if he ain't a blank picter with the weins in his face down 'ere and 'ere, a showin' out just if a blank hartist 'ad painted him. Tell yer he's beautiful, fine as a blank greyhound, with a blank heavy air with him that looks blank like winnin. Take yer two quid to one, guv'nor?" adds the speaker, suddenly picking out a stout purple-faced farmer in the group of eager listeners.

-Charles Dickens : Farce for the

Championship in All the Year
Round.

Bladhunk (tinker), prison.

Blame (popular), a mild expletive

used when one is dissatisfied or disappointed. Oftener heard in the provinces than in London, and much more so in America.

The keeper had fired four times at an Indian, but he said, with an injured air, that the Indian had skipped around so's to spile everything--and ammunition blamed skurse, too. - Mark Twain : Roughing It.

Blanket, a lawful (old cant), a

wife. The allusion is obvious.

Blanks—Blaze.

125

Blanks (Anglo-Indian), a rare word used for whites or Europeans by themselves.

raison d'étre. We do not of course wish to insinuate that any of the “fistic marvels" of to-day are guilty of such conduct. And yet there may be those who watch “Mr." John L. Sullivan revolving round the pro. vinces in a cloud of blather, who think the cap should fit.-Fair Trade.

Blare (popular), to roar, to bawl. He blared and he holloaed and swore he

was hurt, His coat got torn off and he hadn't a shirt, Then the missus comes down and she said

to the cook, You audacious hussey, you'd best sling

your hook.
- The Masher and the Parrot :

Broadside Ballad.

Blatherskite (American), a man whose tongue runs away with him ; an irrepressible noisy chatterer; “blathering." Of Scotch origin (vide BLETHERS).

Blarney (common), flattery; sup

posed to be derived from a stone in the tower of Blarney Castle, near Cork, the kissing of which is a feat of some difficulty, from its perilous position in the wall. It is supposed to confer the gift of eloquence, of a kind peculiarly adapted to win the hearts of women. It is a common saying in Cork, when a man is trying his powers of persuasion or wheedling, “he has been to Blarney Castle," or "none of your blarney.”

Blaze (American). “To blaze a

tree," to remove the bark so as to leave a white surface exposed, which serves either for a boundary, a landmark, or as a sign to direct travellers. The Algon· kin Indians of the north-east

blaze trees so as to direct Indians leaving a village; white men make such marks on the other side. A path which brought us opposite Ntunduru Island, blasing the trees as a guide. -Stanley: Through the Dark Con. tinent.

It is used in this sense by the up country Australians.

The last six miles of a new road into Carcoar had just been marked out and partially made by the inhabitants, expressly for the governor. It was a well chosen but rough track designated by blazed trees on either hand, the unbarked parts being painted white, in order to be more manifest in the dusk.--Lieut. -Col. Munday: Our Antipodes.

It also applies to any kind of landmark.

I picked up a stone, and blazed my course by breaking off a projecting corner occasionally from lava walls and festoons of sulphur.-Mark Twain : A Strange Dream.

Blast (popular), a familiar name

amongst the lower orders for erysipelas of the face.

Blater (popular), a calf; to “cry

beef on a blater," to make a fuss about nothing. Don't be glim-flashy; why, you'd cry beef on a blater.-Lytton : Pelham.

Blather (general), idle nonsense.

Also thin mud or puddle. A prize-fighter who does not fight is about as valuable a machine as an alarum clock which does not go off. He has no

126

Blaze-Bleating

Blaze is an English provincialism for a white spot on a horse's forehead; and blazed is a term applied to a tree when marked for sale.

(General), to blaze away, to fire. He blazed away and missed you in that shallow watercourse.-A. L. Gordon : The Sick Stockrider.

(Prisons), a jacket worn by convicts.

If the young gentlemen do not like the convict blazers, they will not be allowed to take out a boat unless accompanied by a policeman.-Funny Folks.

Blazers (nautical), a term applied

to mortar or bomb vessels, from the great emission of flame to throw a 13-inch shell. --Admiral Smyth.

Blaze of triumph (theatrical), a

ridiculous hyperbole, invented by the poet Bunn, to indicate a great success and crowded houses. To the initiated this usually signifies a dead failure, and a house crowded with “dead-heads.”

Blazes (common). “Go to blazes,"

i.e., “go to hell,” is a common expression both in Great Britain and the United States, among those who are too fastidious to say the word that they mean, and are willing to go ninety-nine per cent. in the expression of profanity, making use of “by Gad," instead of “by God," “great Scott," instead of "great God,” and “darned" instead of “ damned.”

I could have told Johnny Skae that I would not receive his communication at such a late hour, and to go to blazes with it. --Mark Twain.

Blazer (university), a coloured

loose flannel jacket, worn as the uniform of a boating or other club; originally red, but now of the club colours, striped or coloured accordingly. The surplice worn by students in chapel on certain feast or fast days, is described as the blazer of the Church of England. Each club chose a different colour or combination of colours, and these combinations are something sufficiently startling to have originated the appellation.

Another fair damsel was resplendent in a scarlet blazer over cream-coloured flannel. Some of the striped blasers were very becoming. Slate and white, and black and white, were decidedly the favourites, though one daring dame had ventured on magenta. - Modern Society.

The effect produced by the thousands of floating and moving craft, with their occupants in brilliant blazers and light cos. tumes, is quite unique of its kind. --The Standard.

Bleach, to (Harvard University, Massachusetts), to absent oneself from morning prayers. To prefer being present in the spirit rather than in the body.

Bleached mot (popular), a fair

complexioned wench.

Bleak (thieves' slang), handsome

(New York Slang Dictionary).

Bleating cheat (old cant), a sheep.

“ Cheat,” meaning a thing (gypsy), was added to a word

Bleating—Blew.

127

describing the cry of the animal, thus cackling cheat, grunting cheat, &c. When I spoke to him, he said some. thing about a bleating sheep losing a bite; but I should think this young man is not much of a talker in general.--Macmillan's Magasine.

Bleeders (old), spurs, from their

causing blood to flow by fre.

quent use. Bleeding the monkey (nautical).

The monkey is a tall pyramidal rod or bucket which conveys the grog from the grog-tub to the men. Stealing from this in transitu is so called.-Admiral Smyth.

Bleating cull (old cant), a sheep

stealer.

Bleating prig, sheep-stealing.

Bleating rig (old cant), sheep

stealing.

Bleed, to (English and American),

to be obliged to pay money against one's will, or to oblige one to pay.

A boy lives in Pennsylvania who suffers from bleeding at intervals. He usually bleeds nine days at a time. Candidates who bleed three months at a time will envy him.-San Francisco Alta.

This is in reference to the extravagant demands made upon political candidates by

“heelers” and “strikers." Then this fine old Englishman, to crown

each other deed, Has lately shown that for our sake he did

not fear to bleed. A generous gift, that silver cup, in sooth

you'll be agreed, That a cup which bears nine handsome mugs is a handsome one indeed!

-St. Helen's Lantern. (Printers), a book or pamph. let that is cut down so much as to touch the printed portion is said to bleed.

Blethers (Scottish), wind or windy; nonsense. Robert Burns jocosely laments that his business was to string up blethers in rhyme for fools to sing. Bletherhead is a loquacious fool. Bletherumskite is a synonymous word, but expressive of still greater contempt by the use of the word “skite” or “skyte,” which signifies excrement. To Blether or blather is to talk tediously and foolishly. The word is akin to “bladder,” that is, filled with wind.

I hae been clean spoilt just wi' listening to twa blethering old wives. — Sir Walter Scott: Old Mortality.

Wha can ken ... whether sic prayers as the Southron read out of their auld blethering black mess-book there, may not be as powerful to invite fiends, &c.-Scott: Fortunes of Nigel.

Blew or blue (common), to waste,

to spend, to dissipate. “I blew
a bob (I wasted a shilling),” said
a costermonger, “when I went
to an exhibition of pictures.”
To spend or lose one's money in

gambling or betting. But knock-down blows the punter knows

Are a part of his racing creed, And he says this year he has no fear

“The Baron must succeed ! "

Bleeder (sporting), a sovereign;

(university), a "regular bleeder" signifies a superlative duffer.

appropriately le borgne. Another slang expression for the same part of the body is “two fat cheeks and ne'er a nose;" in French slang “un visage sans nez."

We think so too, and our oof we'll blew,

However rash the act, For if this one's missed he will swell the

list Of the winners we might have backed.

-Sporting Times. We'll polish off the malt and grog, and to

have we are bound, A jolly jug, and kiss the girls and women

all around; We'll take a stroll, and then keep it up

till boxing night, Blew all the coin-rent as well, and think

we're doing right; And if we have to pawn the clock, next

day I shan't repine, It was my father's custom, and so it shall be mine.

-Song:

Blinder (thieves), to “take a

blinder,” to die. Some rubber 10 wit had napped a winder, And some were scragged and took a blinder.

-On the Trail.

Blindo, to (army), to die.

Blimey (common), an apparently

meaningless, abusive term.

C. For the MoB.-As this is a court, I feel it suitable and proper to use the sort of language always used up our court. I therefore remark, “Liars, murderers, ras. cals, ghastly bloodsuckers, devils; garn hout, shet up currant-face, blimey," and other things which would naturally occur to a gentleman by Act of Parliament.-An Ennobling Exhibition.

Blind one's trail, to (American), to

act in such a way that it would be difficult to trace one's doings; putting off the scent. Thus a fox in crossing a river blinds his trail, water being fatal to the scent of dogs.

Blink, to (American), to drink. In

Dutch thieves' slang, blinkert is a glass. “Blinkert om uit te buizen "_“To booze from a glass."

Blind (popular), " in the blind,” in

the night, in darkness.
Then it's down with the bedstead and let

us away,
Pack up all we can in the blind,
And long ere the morning,

Without any warning, We'll leave back-rent and landlord behind.

-Song. (Printers), a term applied to a paragraph mark |, owing to the fact of the eye of the P being black or filled up.

Blinker (American), a phrase

fully explained by the following anecdote from a New York newspaper :

"The term growler has become obsolete, and blinker has succeeded it. A waggonload of supplies' was transferred to the Bedlows (prison) island boat, and among them were two two-gallon kerosene oil cans. A boat-hand remarked, "They must be usin' lots of kerosene-them officers over there-for they gets them cans filled mighty often !' The secret was let out a few minutes later, when one of the men coming on deck with the happy smile of one who has interviewed the ardent, said to one of his companions: 'I say, Jimmy,

Blind cheeks (popular), posteriors, termed sometimes blind Cupid. The French argot calls it more

the blinkers have got good stuff this time!"

--Vide BLINK.

Blinkers (pugilistic), the eyes,

termed also ogles, optics, peepers, winkers. (Common), spectacles. Blinkert, Dutch slang, glass.

ing up quickly, uttered a German expres. sion (our correspondent has forgotten the words) which sounded very much like blis. zard. His friends took it up and have since called a storm of wind accompanied by snow a blizzard. Some years ago the origin of the word was sought and it was said to be Indian, and that an Indian used the expression (or one similar in sound) upon seeing some white men coming out of a severe snowstorm. - Detroit Free Press.

The German expression here referred to is "blitzen !”

Blinko (thieves), the term is ex

plained by the quotation. “What is a blinko, for instance?" "Well, it's a kind of entertainment, sing. ing, and that,” replied the old fellow, "to which strangers are not invited-least of all the police."-). Greenwood : Dick Temple.

Bloat (American), a drunkard, a

drowned corpse.

Blizzard (American), a word of many meanings. In one of the early Crockett almanacs about 1836 it appears as distinctly meaning a shot from a rifle.

“The elder boys when they went to school carried their rifles to get a blissard at anything they might meet on the road."

It has been conjectured that in this sense it was derived from blaze, or from the (Canadian) French blesser, to wound or hit. It was also applied to lightning at an early date. At present the tremendous wind - storms like the typhoon which sweep over the West are called blizzards. It possibly owes this later meaning to the German blitz. With reference to the word blizzard, a Western correspondent sends the following :--The word was first used in Marshall, Minn., some thirteen years ago. Some friends were enjoying themselves at a public-house, when a storm of wind and snow arose, and one of the number, look.

Bloater (popular), “ my bloater," a term of friendship much in favour with 'Arry, who likes his friends as much as his bloater for breakfast, and that is not saying a little. But, bless yer, my bloater, it isn't all

chin-music, vots and "ear! 'ear!" Or they wouldn't catch me on the ready, or nail me for ninepence. No fear!

-Punch. Block, the (Australian). “Doing

the block,” ¿.e., promenade, is one of the favourite amusements of Melbourne ladies between twelve and one and five and six. T'he block is the fashion. able promenade in Melbourne. The block is the block of buildings in Collins Street lying between Swanston Street and Elizabeth Street.

Block house (old slang), a prison,

house of correction, penitentiary, and similar establishments. The expression reminds one of the French military slang term le bloc, an abbreviation of blockhaus.

Block of stock (American), an

adaptation of the French term en bloc, meaning a large number of shares in anything, a great undivided mass, held as a single interest.

It would be comparatively easy, there. fore, for a syndicate to take the control from Jay Gould, especially if Russell Sage or some other holder of a big block of stock were to join the movement. --Chicago Tribune, October 2, 1887.

The girl is stunning, the blokes say, so we must forgive you.--Ouida: Held in Bondage.

"Give us a horder, then, old bloke," shrieked another gamin.-F. W. Robinson : Little Kate Kirby.

It has another signification, which is explained by the quota. tion.

It came out in the course of the evidence that the meaning of the word bloke was "a man whom a woman might pick up in the street."--J. Greenwood : Seven Curses of London.

Block ornaments (popular), the

better kind of meat scraps sold at butchers' stalls. On the shelves set out in front of the shop, meat scraps are offered at idd. the lb.; better scraps (or block ornaments, as they are termed) at 4d.-Standard.

For dinner, which on a week day is hardly ever eaten at the costermonger's abode, they buy block ornaments, as they call the small, dark-coloured pieces of meat exposed on the cheap butchers' blocks or counters.-Henry Mayhew: London Labour and the London Poor.

Also old-fashioned, queer-looking men and women.

Blood (fencing). In the old back

swording contests a blood, i.e., a streak of blood on the head or face at least one inch in length, was the equivalent of a decisive “broken-head.” The word blutiger is used in the same sense by the German students on the Mensur.

In prize-ring parlance the word is not considered sufficiently graphic, and blood is never mentioned except under synonyms such as “claret" (especi. ally picturesque in connection with tapping), “Badminton” (a peculiar kind of claret cup invented at the Duke of Beaufort's seat), “ruby," “crimson,” “Chateau Lafitte," &c.

Bloke (common), not strictly “a man,” as Hotten defines it, but a man in a contemptuous sense. So the word was originally used in the police newspapers twentyfive years ago. A bloke was a victim of sharps, a stupid person, a greenhorn. It is not from the gypsy loke, a man, as Hotten asserts, loke not being an Anglo-Romany word. It is probably from the Dutch blok, a block, a log, a fool, which gives rise to blok-ker, a plodder, a dull fellow, and to the English blockhead.

Blood and entrails (nautical).

This is a slang name given to the British ensign by Yankee sailors.

Blood and thunder (popular), port

wine and brandy mixed.

Blood and thunder literature

(American), now common in

If the stay be longer, the porter and the boots expect something. A fair estimate is about two francs per diem divided be. tween all the blood-suckers. Members of the Stock Exchange generally give treble this; members of the aristocracy half. — Truth,

(Nautical), lazy fellows, who by skulking throw their proportion of labour on the shoulders of their shipmates.-Admiral Smyth. In the army such fellows are styled “scrimshankers.”

England. Literature of the loudest and coarsest sensational kind, “detective” novels, romances like “Jack Sheppard” and the “Outlaw of the Plains," “Life of Buffalo Bill,” &c. One more instance of the deleterious influence of blood and thunder fiction, Lecomte, the man who made a most determined attempt to murder a messenger of the Bank of France the other day by plunging a bradawl into the nape of his neck, was an inveterate peruser of crimson. toned literature, his favourite authors being Ponson du Terrail, Gaboriau, and Lacenaire, the lettered murderer who emulated the deeds of Hoffman's “Car. dillac" by prowling around the streets of Paris for victims.–Paris Correspondence : Daily Telegraph. Blood boat (naval), a “tally

boat” or bumboat, a boat employed to carry provisions from the shore. Blood-curdler (society), a story

of murder likely to make the reader's blood curdle.

It will contain two pages of interesting and absorbing turf reminiscences by ourselves and master; a blood-curdler, by the murderman.-Sporting Times.

The only one who is annoyed is our own special murder-monger, who has got several blood-curdlers of English extraction up his sleeve. —Sporting Times. Blood for blood (trade), barter among tradesmen, who exchange with each other the commodities in which they deal. Blood-suckers (society), extor

tioners, people who are constantly getting money. Derived from vampires, who are bloodsuckers.

Bloody. Dr. C. Mackay makes the

following remarks: “A word that is constantly used in the sense of sanguinary by the rudest and foulest-mouthed of the vul.. gar. Did these people know the harmlessness of the odious epithet, as they now understand it-if they understand it at all —they would perhaps cease to employ it, as not sufficiently coarse and disgusting to suit their ideas of the emphatic. Dean Swift, who was partially acquainted with the vernacular Gaelic of Ireland, wrote from Dublin to his friend Gay that it was bloody hot'-an expression which he would not have permitted himself to use in its blackguardly English sense of sanguinary. • Bloody hot,' in the use made of it by Dean Swift, meant rather hot.'”

Mr. Charles G. Leland writes : “Mr. Hotten thinks that this is an expletive without reference to any meaning. Any one who will take the pains to look over the sanguinary words in any

European language can at once perceive a great deal of meaning in the association of bloody with evil or revolting. We find, for instance, ill or evil blood, bloodthirsty, blood-stained, bloody, in the sense of cruel or atrocious, bloody council, bloodguilty, and in German or Dutch, blood-shame or incest, a blood. revenger, bloody revenge, and in all three 'a bloody villain' for murderer, as nothing is more natural than for an adjective or adverb used in so many opprobrious meanings to take on others. The transfer of bloody from murderous to everything wicked or bad seems as natural as Max O‘Rell's derivation of it from By'r Lady I is absurd. As R. H. Proctor remarks, in his Americanisms (* Knowledge'), it is . simple nonsense. The Germans have blutwenig, which has nothing to do with blut, 'blood;' the first component is a dialectal form of bloss, merely.'

The Earl of Suffolk gives the following definition of the word : “ Bloody, an ornamental adjective of infinite adaptability and significance. This word is used largely though not exclu. sively in turf circles.”

Bloody Mary's, the red-brick

church, St. Paul's, resembling St. Mary's in Cambridge, the

University church. Bloody shirt, the (American),

agitation of the war question after the Civil War.

“Chorus of mugwump, democratic, and rebel yells : Here's Blaine waving the bloody shirt again. The colour line is wiped out; the negro question is settled, and all Southern negroes interested in poli. tics are democrats. Down with the sectional question !” Bloomer (Australian), prison slang

for a mistake. Abbreviated from the expression “ a bloom

ing error.” Blooming (common), used com

monly for emphasising a word, but generally in an ironical manner, or to express disappointment or ruffled feelingsmild swearing, in fact. It is applied to everything from a swell to an oyster. Heard on the course at Ascot after mounted bobby had rushed amongst horses in Prince of Wales' Stakes and completely spoiled Phil's chance of winning. irate backer of Phil, with feeling : “ Just like my blooming luck; a blooming peeler's stood in my way all my life."-Bird o Freedom.

He had been tried and found guilty of murder. The day had come for his execution, and the Talepitcher and Tom Beard had made a special journey to the gallows with a Church Service and a German dictionary to hear his last words. As the fatal moment approached he turned to the hang. man, in a dazed, half-conscious manner:

“What day o' the week is this?”
" Monday," replied Berry.

"Monday, is it? Well, s'whelp my good garden stuff, this is a bloomin' nice way to commence the week!"-Sporting Times.

Bloody Jemmy (popular), sheep's

head.

Bloody king's, a red-brick church

in Barnwell (St. Mary's the Less), resembling King's College Chapel in architecture.

Bloomy (American), flowers; from the Dutch.

Bloss (American thieves), woman,

girl, mistress; from blossom, old English slang.

I only piked into Grassville with a dim. ber-damber, who couldn't pad the hoof for a single darkman's without his bloss to keep him from getting pogy: - On the Trail.

Blot the scrip (popular), to engage to do anything by a written instrument.

Blot the scrip, and jark it (old

cant), to stand surety or bail for any one.

Bloviate (American), a made up

or "factitious” word, which has been used since 1850, and is perhaps older. It is irregularly used to signify verbosity, wandering from the subject, and idle or inflated oratory or blowing, by which word it was probably suggested, being partially influenced by "deviate.”

in my brigh (pocket). When I came out
I went at the same old game.-). Horsley:
Prison Jottings.
Blow, blow it (American thieves'

slang), to be silent, be quiet! hold your chatter! This is quite the opposite of the English slang “to blow,” which means to inform on, or the common American “to blow,” i.e., to talk loudly and emptily. Mac Clarty objected; giving the young man a warning look, he said, “Nixey Toohey, get out flash-blow it, man, blow it!" which meant that Mr. Mac Clarty thought that Mr. Toohey ought not to talk so much.-Philadelphia Press, Dec. 8, 1887. Blow, blow on, upon (common),

to expose, inform. And she ain't got nobody but me to keep a secret for her, and I've been and blowed on her.-). Greenwood : Dick Temple.

You wouldn't blow an old chum among his friends, would you?-Sam Slick: The Clockmaker.

Depend upon it that they're on the scent down here, and that if he moved, he'd blow upon the thing at once.-- Dickens : Oliver Twist.

But I will blow her, he said, I will blow her ladyship's conduct in the business.Sir Walter Scott: St. Ronan's Well.

Derived from the primary mean. ing to blow, to spread by report as if with a trumpet, to publish; or from to blow upon, to taint, to blast, to bring into disfavour or discredit. Happily for him, he was not put to the bar till the first burst of popular rage had spent itself, and till the credit of the false witnesses had been blown upon.Macaulay.

In Dutch an ear-blower, oor. bleazer, means an instigator,

Blow (university), a drunken

frolic; an old slang phrase formerly much in vogue at both Oxford and Cambridge, but not much used now, such words as “spree," "tight,” &c., having superseded it. Also, “to blow," and “to go on the blow.” (Old cant), “He has hit the blow," i.e., he has stolen the goods, or done the deed. (Common), a shilling For this I went to the Steel (BastileCold Bath Fields Prison), having a new suit of clobber on me, and about fifty blow

informer, or sycophant; the French siffler dans l'oreille seems to be closely allied to it. (Winchester), to blow signifies to blush, like a rose in full bloom. (American), to blow, to brag, or “gas " unduly. (Old slang), “to blow the groundsels,” using the floor for the purpose of sexual intercourse. (Common), “to blow the gaff," to reveal the secret, to“ peach,” to inform. The old form still in use is "to blow the gab," i.e., to utter the dis. course, which has more meaning in it. Why, he scarcely knows a jimmy from a round robin, and Jack deserved the tippet for making a law with him, as all coves of his kidney “blow the gaff."-On the Trail.

Sometimes “to blow the gag," which literally signifies to blow off the metaphoric impediment which keeps one's mouth closed. To blow off, to treat to drinks. (Common), blow out, a good meal. “That was a rare good blow out," soliloquises Dan, complacently recalling the taste of the savoury viands. -Savage Lon don.

request that he would willingly do so in the interest of cheap literature, if his butcher and baker would act upon the same principle towards himself. He cited a letter on the subject which he had received from his butcher:Sir,-Respectin' your note; cheap litera. ture be blowed! Butchers must live as well as other people, and if so be as you and the readin' public wants to have meat at prime cost, you must buy in our beastesses, and kill yourselves. ---JOHN STOKES.

It's no shame to be defeated by Peck. sniff. Blow Pecksnitl.–Dickens : Martin Chuzzlewit.

Blowen (thieves), originally a

showy courtesan, a prostitute,
but now used more in the sense
of woman, mistress,
Tramp it, tramp it, my jolly blowen,

Or be grabbed by the beaks we may,
And we shall caper a-heel-and-toeing
A Newgate hornpipe some fine day

-William Maginn All the most fashionable prigs, or tobymen, sought to get him into their set ; and the most crack blowen in London would have given her ears at any time for a loving word from Bachelor Bill.-Lytton : Paul Clifford.

It is used with a like meaning by American thieves.

Ah, Bell ! you were always the blowen for a rum bing.-On the Trail.

M. O. Davis givesthe definition of “blowen, a showy woman, used disparagingly,” which would imply that it is derived from blown, i.e., inflated. It seems on the contrary to be used in a complimentary sense, a simile from a full-blown flower, and this poetical derivation is

Blowed, to be blowed. This expres

sion is a weak attempt to avoid the use of the oaths “damn" or “blast," and occurs in only such expressions as “ I'll be blowed if I do,” and many others that are continually heard from the mouths of the populace. Tom Hood was asked to contribute to a new cheap periodical for nothing, or for a small advance as he termed it upon nothing, and replied to the

borne out by the closely allied term, blowe88, a pet, and bloss, a woman, from blossom in American thieves' lingo.

(American), “blowing his ba200," blowing his own trumpet, boasting. From the Dutch bazu, abbreviation of bazuin, a trumpet or trombone, “ Jemands lof bazuynen," to sound one's (own) praise. (Thieves), “ blowing out a red light,” stealing a gold watch, a white light being a silver watch. (Nautical), “ blowing great guns and small arms,” heavy gales, a hurricane; "blowing the grampus," throwing water over a man on watch who

has fallen asleep. Blown together (tailors), garments badly made are said to have been blown together.

Blower (American), a noisy, talk

ative man, a “gas-bag.” (Popu

lar), a tobacco-pipe. Blow in (American), another

form of “blew," to spend one's money.

“Sam? Isn't he in the valley?” “Not much! Sam got two months' wages ahead, so he cracked his whip, and went off on a bend." "To blow in?" Jake laughed assent.--Saddle and Moccasin.

“ To blow in one's pile," to spend one's money, to pay. I had "blown in my pile" On the strength of his tip, The name of the horse Was on many a lip; But I learnt, ere sunset, to my sorrow That there's slips twixt the cup and the lip.

-Turf, Field, and Farm. Blowing (Australian, popular),

boasting, bragging.

The public-houses presented a very busy sight, and judging by the bars it seemed that when men were not eating, sleeping, or working, they were drinking grog and boasting (or blowing, in colonial parlance) of some feat which they had performed, or of the particular merits of some horse, bullock, dog, or man.-Grant: Bush Life.

The metaphor probably is "blowing one's own trumpet," if indeed it be not simply an abbreviation, Australian slang being given to abbreviations of all kinds. Anthony Trollope gave a good deal of offence in Australia by speaking of blowing as a national fail. ing out there.

Blow out (common), an entertain

ment or feast.

“She sent me a card for a blow out," said Mowbray, “and so I am resolved to go."-Sir Walter Scott: St. Ronan's Well.

Synonyms are “spread,” “flare

up." Blow up (common), so universally

used as to have almost ceased to be slang; to vehemently scold, reprimand.

The other day some poor fellow married a somewhat faded beauty, and one of his former acquaintances inquired how the newly-wedded pair were getting on. “Very indifferent," was the reply. “She's always blowing him up." “I'm not surprised at that," said the first. “Look at the amount of powder she carries about her."— Ally Sloper's Half Holiday.

To give a blowing up is synonymous.

(Workmen), to blow up (i.e., to sound the whistle), is to call

Bludget, a low female thief who

decoys her victims into alley. ways, &c., to rob them (New York Slang Dictionary). Bludger (English slang), a man who uses violence in robbery; it has possibly some connection with the old Dutch slang word bolletje, a man or master. “ Volmaakt, bolletje, volmaakt!"

Blowsy (common), wild, dis

ordered, dishevelled, generally applied to the hair of a woman when unkempt, disarranged, and streaming over her forehead and face. “Blowsabella” is the name given to a personage in an ancient mock-heroic poem. Blub (popular), an abbreviation of to “ blubber," to cry like a

child with noise and slavering. Don't be a fool and blub, Jim, it's a

darned good thing for you, You'll find a mate as can carry and I'll

play the music too. --George R. Sims: Ballads of Babylon. Blubber (popular), the mouth; to “sport blubber" is said of a large coarse woman who exposes her bosom; blubber and guts, obesity; blubber-belly, a fat person ; blubber-head, a stupid person. (Nautical), blubber boiler, a whaling vessel. (Common), blubber cheeks, large flaccid cheeks hanging like the fat or blubber of a whale. The term has ceased to be slang.

Blue (common). This word en

ters into several slang phrases, not only English but of other nationalities.

To be in “the blues," to have a “fit of the blues" (in French broyerdu noir), to be afllicted with "blue devils,” to drink till “ all is blue," "to be partial to blue ruin," "to look blue," "to cry blue murder,” are all familiar phrases of ancient origin and modern prevalence. “Du vin bleu," and “ petit Bleu," are used by the French to signify thin, sour, unwholesome wine, terms which owe their origin to a similar association of ideas.

In some of those with melancholy meanings, there is an evident connection between Blue as a colour, and the idea of grief, disappointment. Thus the French have the expression, “ En voir de bleues," to meet with great disappointment, annoyance, sufferings, a variant of “En voir de grises." "En bailler tout bleu," to be gaping with astonishment at some news or act which arouses one's indignation, from the livid hue of the face.

Bluchers (Winchester), college

prefects with only “half” power, which means they can only "fag" men in “hall” or “chambers."

The remaining eight college prefects (called in Winchester tongue bluchers) have a more limited authority, confined to chambers and the quadrangle. - Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine.

Bludgers (thieves), fellows who do

not hesitate to use the bludgeon.

Charles G. Leland makes the following remarks :

“ Blue, English popular slang, but somewhat extended in the United States. When this word is used to denote extremes, as

to drink till all is blue,' a dyed in the wool blue Presbyterian,' "true-blue' in political opinions or honesty, it would appear that its origin is possibly maritime. Blue water was till a recent period always described as off or out of soundings, so that, like the sky, it suggests no end. It is remarkable that in both German and Dutch the same idea of extremity is connected with blue. An utterly bad, pitiful result in the latter is 'Een blauwe uytvlugt.' In the last extremity of dead drunkenness, or in the swoons of a man in the delirium tremens, a blue sky or atmosphere seems to gather round the victim, in which a luminous point appears, which

seems to come directly at him,' as the writer has heard it described. To look bluc is probably derived, like blue-noses, from cold, or from approaching death, which latter would suffi. ciently account for the relation of blue to despair, despondency, and misery." “Now, shendlemens, I sings you a song of mine own vot I translade from de Sherman of Schiller ” :Dere is an oldt saying, und I peliefe id

is true, Dot ven a man dies his fingers toorn

plue, His fingers toorn plue by de light of de

moon,

Und vy shouldn't efery man enjoy his

own room? Gorus. -Room, poys, room, by de light

of de moon, Und vy shouldn't esery man enjoy his own room?

-Yale College Song. “ Blue devils and red monkeys are said by the experienced to be the characteristic apparitions which haunt drunkards.”

(Common), to talk blue, to talk immodestly, or libidinously. "A bit of blue," an obscene or libidinous anecdote. “A brown conversation” and “a brown study" is used in the contrary sense, and means seriously, gravely, and decently.

(Oxford and Cambridge). A man is said to get his blue (that is, the right to wear the University colour) when he represents his University against the rival university, in the annual boat-race, cricket-match. athletic sports, or football matches.

Blue, blew, to (common), to pawn

or pledge, to spend or lose one's money at gambling, to waste money generally. Varied to Vlew, from the phrase "blown in," which refers to money that has been spent, as in the phrase, “I blewed' all my tin.” For another derivation see BLEWED.

He'd a rooted aversion to everything

blue. And so innately modest was he That he blushed when his optics en.

countered a view Of the broadly cerulean sea.

He adored modest maidens of charming

eighteen, But blue-stockings he'd always eschew, And he carried his tastes to the verge of

the meanHe had oof, which he never would blew.

--Sporting Times. “ To blew a job,” to make a mess of a business; from to blow in the sense of make worthless; (thieves), to blew, to steal; “blewed of his red 'un,” i.e., his watch stolen from him. “I've been blewed of my skin," I've been robbed of my purse.

Blue-apron (common), a blue-apron

statesman. “A lay politician, a tradesman who interferes with the affairs of the nation. The reference is to the blue apron once worn by almost all tradesmen, but now restricted to butchers, poulterers, fishmongers, and so on" (Dr. Brewer's Dic. tionary of Phrase and Fable).

Blue blanket (vagrants), explained by quotation:

The vagabond brotherhood have several slang terms for sleeping out in a field or meadow. It is called "snoozing in Hedge Square," "dossing with the daisies," and "lying under the blue blanket."--). Greenwood : Under the Blue Blanket.

The French have the equivalent “ Coucher à l'hôtel de l'Étoile.” (Popular), a large

rough coat, a pilot coat. Blue-blazer (American), a fancy

drink of sugar, hot water, and spirits, but made in a peculiar manner. Blue-blazes (common), hell. As

there is probably no man who has ever heard of hell who has not been taught to associate it with burning sulphur or brimstone, the expression does not seem to be so meaningless as some writers suppose. (Popular),

spirituous liquors. Blue boar (old cant), the vulgar

term for a venereal disease. Blue-bottle (general), a policeman,

a constable, termed also a “blue

devil.” The Bobby's big boot, though, is nudging

her now, And she sleepily stutters, “ All right!

Whatsh th' row?" Then the buzz of the blue bottle's borne on

the breeze“Now move yourself, 'Liza! Come, pass along, please!"

-Sporting Times. It occurs in Shakspeare in the Second Part of King Henry IV., where Doll Tearsheet calls the beadle "a blue-bottle rogue." Most etymologistsagree

Blue bill (Winchester), every

“man” in “Commoners,” that is, school, in contradistinction to college, has his tradesman's bills enclosed in a blue envelope given to him by the head-master on the last evening of the half, after “preces” or prayers, at 8.45 P M., in “Mugging Hall.” (See this word.)

Blue Billy (popular), the hand

kerchief (blue ground with white spots) sometimes worn and used as a colour at prize. fights. Also the refuse ammo. niacal lime from gas factories (Hotten).

Blue-bottle-Blue pigeon.

139

&c. “He has hoisted the blue

flag.” bi Blue funk (English and Ameri

can), extreme fright.

It put me in a regular blue funk.--Punch.

in ascribing the appellation to the colour of a policeman's uniform. The term was formerly applied to servants dressed in blue liveries. The police force is sometimes spoken of as the “blues.” The old French city police were termed by thieves les verts, from their green uniforms, and nowadays a French rogue will talk of les serins (canaries), i.e., gendarmes, with yellow facings. The rebel chouans called the Republican soldiers les bleus. The Austrians and the English were respectively styled les blancs and habits rouges by French soldiery. Again, “blue bellies” was a term applied by the Confederate soldiery during the Civil War to the Federals, on account of their blue gaberdines, and the latter dubbed their adversaries "grey-backs.” Many other examples might be given in support of the above derivation of

blue-bottles. Blue boy (popular), a bubo. Blue butter (popular), mercurial

ointment. Blue cheek (popular), explained

by quotation.

There were three fashions for whiskers when I was a child, and they were variously known as blue cheek, the whisker shaved off and leaving the cheek blue ; “bacca pipe," the whisker curled in tiny ringlets); and “touzle," or whisker worn bushy. - J. Greenwood : Outcasts of London.

Blue moon (proverbial), an unde

fined period, used in the phrase,

“Once in a blue moon.” Blue murders (popular), a great

and unusual noise. To call blue murders, to call out loudly. “If you hit me again I'll call out

blue murders." Blue noses (Americanism),

natives of Nova Scotia.

"Pray, sir," said one of my fellow-passengers, "can you tell me the reason why the Nova Scotians are called blue noses?" “It is the name of a potato," said I, “which they produce in the greatest perfection, and boast to be the best in the world. The Americans have in consequence given them the nickname of blue noses."--Haliburton : Sam Slick. Blue peter (nautical), the signal

for sailing when hoisted at the foretop mast-head. This wellknown flag has a blue ground with a white square in the centre (Admiral Smyth).

The blue peter has long been flying at my foremast, and ... now I must soon expect the signal for sailing. - Justin MCarthy: A History of Our Own Times.

This expression is also applied to the call for trumps in whist.

Blue flag (popular), a blue apron

worn by butchers, greengrocers,

Blue pigeon (thieves), the lead

on roofs; to fly or shoot the blue pigeon, to steal lead off

the roofs of buildings. (Nauti. cal), a nickname for the sound

" ing lead.

Blue pill (American), a bullet.

Lead has long been termed bluey in England, and death by a bullet blue murder, but the enormous consumption of blue pills or calomel in the United States renders it possible that the simile originated there.

. . That if he did so he would be re. ceived with a welcome from a horse-pistol. To which the answer was, “Hey got a mountain howitzer witch karrys a forepound (4 lb.) ball, and I intend to blow you and your house to hel before I begin on your turkers. So come on with your pistil and blue pil.-Knickerbocker Magazine.

A tumbler of blue ruin fill, fill for me!
Red tape those as likes it may drain,
But whatever the lush, it a bumper must
be.

-Lord Lytton : Paul Clifford. . Dr. Brewer gives the explana. tion: “Blue, from its tint, and quin, from its effects." Compare as regards similes of colour "red tape," red wine; “ petit bleu," coarse red wine; “une verte" or “ perroquet,” a glass of absinthe (which is green); “une brune," a glass of porter; “une blonde," a glass of ale; “une jaune," a dram of brandy ; “une dame blanche," a bottle of white wine; “pivois savonné," white wine; “né. gresse,” bottle of red wine. And with respect to pernicious effects, “breaky leg," strong drink; “eau-de-mort, cassepoitrine, tord-boyaux," rank brandy. The term blue ruin must have been coined by sober people, or by repentant drunkards, whilst those otherwise inclined gave it the fond appellation of “white velvet," or “white satin," unconsciously imitated by French dram-drinkers, when, after having tossed off some horrible stuff in an assommoir, they fervently ejaculate, “C'est un velours, quoi ! ”

Blue plumbs (thieves), bullets.
No rapture can equal the tobyman's joys,
To blue devils blue plumbs give the
go-by.

- Ainsworth : Rookwood.

Blue ribbon (racing), the term is

only applied to the Derby. Melton, who won the blue ribbon after one of the most exciting finishes.--Illustrated London News.

Blue ruin (popular), gin of inferior

quality. Termed also “blue

ribband." His ear caught the sound of the word

morbleu! Pronounced by the old woman under her

breath; Now, not knowing what she could mean by

blue death, He conceived she referred to a delicate

brewing, Which is almost synonymous, namely, blue ruin.

--Ingoldsby Legends.

Blues (common), the Royal Horse

Guards; the Bluecoat school; the crews of the 'Varsity boat race-the dark blues being the Oxford men, and the light blues those from Cambridge; the police force.

Well, what's the row ...
Or whether this here mobbing, as some

longish heads foretell it, Will grow to such a riot that the Oxford blues must quell it?

-Hood Row at the Oxford Arms.

(Society), “a fit of the blues" means a fit of depression; it is abbreviated from the “blue devils," which are supposed to appear to a man suffering from delirium tremens.

She had attracted him for a while, but his strong good common sense, as well as his strong healthy body and robust habits, soon carried him out of the blues he had for a while fallen into.- Lucy Farmer ; or, Chronicles of Cardew Manor. Blue skin (West Indian), the

child of a black woman by a white man. The name of a mulatto, one of the characters of Ainsworth's " Jack Sheppard.”

German, blüffen. The eleventh
commandment among thieves
in Germany is “Du sollst
Dich nicht verblüffen lassen ”-
“Don't let yourself be bluffed.”
Dutch blafferd, a snarling fel.
low ; bloffen, to bark at. Also
Dutch, verbluffen, to put out of
countenance, to face down.

(Patterers' slang), an excuse, a pretence,

There is a strong suspicion among men whose heads are level that the minstrel variety performance is a bluff of the "messenger" to keep from the public the real motives of the murders.-Bret Harte: Gabriel Conroy.

Blue squadron, one of the (East

Indian), a person having a cross of the Indian breed.

Blue the screw, to (popular), to

spend one's salary. He buys her gloves and dresses new, And stands her dinners down at Kew; In fact on her blues all his screw, Which some day he will sadly rue.

- The Gaiety Masher: Broadside. Bluey (thieves), lead. (Austra

lian), a bushman's bundle, the outside wrapper of which is generally a blue blanket

(Murray). Bluff, to (American, low), to put

down by a bold front, to oppose by “cheek” or effrontery.

I did not care if it took me a week; 1 was not going to be bluffed by them.North of England Advertiser.

Bluffer (provincial), an innkeeper,

or landlord of a public-house. (Nautical), a boatswain of a

ship. Bluffing (American, cards), betting

bigb on poor cards at poker,
in the hopes of frightening the
other players into going out.
A crafty player will often allow
himself to be called for a
small bluff, so as to establish
a reputation for doing it, in
order to lie by and win a good
stake when he has a really
good hand, on which he has
thus induced his antagonists to
suppose that he is bluting. The
English equivalent for this term
is “ bragging."

Blunderbuss (popular), a stupid,

blundering fellow.

Blunt (thieves), money.
When the slow coach paused, and the

gemmen storm'd, I bore the brunt

prise, from the simile of firing a broadside and taking advantage of the smoke to board.

Boarding school (old cant), the name given by thieves and similar characters to Newgate or any other prison. “To go to boarding school” was to go to gaol. French thieves call a prison “pal” “un aminche de collège.”

And the only sound which my grave lips

form'd
Was blunt--still blunt !

-Lord Lytton: Paul Clifford. “ Take care of your watches, gentle. men !” said the polite policeman, endea. vouring to divide the mob.

"Take care of your Blunt, you devils !" yelled the gallant Primrose Leaguer, who had come to see the fun.-Bird o' Freedom.

By some the word is derived from Mr. John Blunt, the chairman of the South Sea Company, the famous bubble by which a few fortunes were won, and many fortunes were lost, in 1720. By others it is thought that the word originated in the French blond. But blunt (sometimes varied to the blunt) is more probably derived, as the latter appellation implies, from an allusion to the blunt rim of coins or to their hardness, as in the phrase “ hard cash,” “soft” being bank notes, and “stiffs "

cheques or bills. Blunted (popular, and thieves),

possessed of money. Bly-hunka (tinker), a horse. B. N. C., Brasenose College, Ox

ford. Board, to (military), to borrow. Board him (nautical), a col

loquialism for I'll ask, demand, or accost him (Admiral Smyth). Shakspeare makes Polonius say of Hamlet :

“I'll board him presently." To " board him in the smoke," means to take a person by sur

Boat (thieves), originally to trans

port, the term is now applied to penal servitude. To “get the boat” or to “be boated" is to be sentenced to a long term of imprisonment equivalent to transportation under the old system (Hotten). To boat with one is to be a partner in some crime, to be an accomplice. “Does he boat with you ?” “Yes, and he's an artist. Only last night, down at the Albany break-up, he buzzed a bloke and a shakester of a reader.”—On the Trail.

(Military), a good boat is a soldier who spends his money freely with his poorer comrades.

Bob (general), a shilling. Origin unknown. Perhaps from a simile in allusion to the meaning of bob, formerly bait for fish, the coin being looked upon in the light of a bribe. “Bobstick,” old slang for a shilling, would in that case be the fishing-rod. Compare with “palm-oil,” both money and bribe, and the French slang huile de mains, same meaning. Also with graisse, money, from the phrase "graisser

la patte,” to bribe. It is curious to note that bob is a blow, and “blow" slang for a sbilling.

The jolliest fellow you ever met

Is a dismal man at home; The wittiest girl in society's set

Will with headaches her wit atone. The man whose graces a court would

adorn Is tied to a desk from night till morn; And the man who would lend his last

bob to a friend Never has the first bob to lend.

-Bird o' Freedoni,

(Popular), bob! stop! the response to the request “say when," while spirits are being poured into one's glass.

“ Bob a nob," a shilling a head.

Bob, in old slang, signified a shoplifter's assistant, to whom the stolen goods were passed, and who carried them away. ** All is bob,” i.e., all is safe. From a Cornwall term bob, pleasant, agreeable. A variant of “all gay,” and “all serene.” “To shift one's bob," to go away.

(Public schools), “ dry bob," a boy who devotes himself to cricket or football, or any other games on "dry land,” in opposition to “wet bob,” one who gives himself up to boating.

The friendly rivalry between England and America led some while ago to a contest between the “wet bobs," to use an Eton phrase, of either country, and it was only fair that the "dry bobs" should show what they could do.-T. Ogilvie : Imperial Dictionary of the English Language.

“Dry bob" also refers to fruitless coition.

Resolved to win, like Hercules, the

prize .. The cheating jilt, at the twelfth, a dry bob cries.

-Earl of Rochester's Works. Bob my pal (rhyming slang), a

"gal,” girl. Bobachee (Anglo-Indian), a cook;

a vulgar or slang form of bāwarchi, a high dignitary at the Mongol court, a taster and carver to some great man. Bobbachy canrah, cook-house.

Anglo-Indian Glossary. Bobber (popular), a fellow-work

man, mate. Also a variant of “bob,” as in the phrase "two bobber,” a florin.

So down I gets and finds a two bobber. My mate gives me the wink, but the slavey's on the job, so I say, “Oh, miss, if I ain't found a two bobber."-Sporting Times. Bobbery (Anglo-Indian). This

word comes from the East, but its origin is doubtful. The authors of the “ Anglo-Indian Glossary” declare that it is common for Hindus when in surprise or grief to exclaim, Bapre! or Bapre bap! “Oh, Fathers !" This is imitated in Anglo-Indian by Bobbery Bob! Ladies in the United States also sometimes exclaim, “Fathers !" with or without “merciful,” or “good” as a prefix. Bobbery generally signifies a row, a disturbance. It is even more common as “bobbely” in pidgin English, but it is very doubtful indeed whether it originated, as some think, in the Cantonese pa-pi, a noise.

I'll bet a wager there'll be a bobbery in the pigsty before long.–Marryat: Peter Simple.

It also means in India “pack," a pack of hounds or dogs of all kinds without distinction. What a Cabinet has put togethera regular bobbery-pack.-Anglo-Indian Glossary.

Bobbin (common). "That's the

end of the bobbin." A phrase equivalent to saying, “That's the end of it," when all the thread is wound off a bobbin or spool. The French say "être au bout de son rouleau." (American), bobbin' around, a slang phrase meaning going about, here and there, casually. It rose from the refrain of a song which was popular in 1850. In another lyric the following allusion was made to a report that the King of Belgium had proposed marriage to Miss Burdett-Coutts

and been rejected. So the King of the Belgines went in and

got sold When he hoped for a fortune in silver and

gold, Which shows that great mon-i-archs some.

times are found Runnin' after rich ladies and bobbin'

around. If I ketch him bobbin' round arter our Nancy here agin, I'll just set the dorgs on him--though I don't believe a decent dorg would want to bite such an everlasting slink as he is.-Sunday Paper.

Bobbing around is evidently a variation on “bobbing up and down,” rising and falling, here and there, like a fisherman's bob in the water.

Bobbing (public schools), “dry bobbing" applies to all sports on terra firma, and “wet bobbing”

to aquatics. Bobbish (common), smart, spruce,

or in good order, fair. From a Cornwall term bob, pleasant, agreeable. “ 'Ow are yer, pretty bobbish?" "I'm much as usual, thankee."--Punch. Bobbles (popular), the testicles.

From the same word signifying

in Cornwall, stones, pebbles. Bobby (general), a policeman ;

otherwise “peeler, cop, or copper, blue-bottle, pig, reeler, crusher, frog, fly-cop," &c.

The cook, she, when

The bobby's on his beat,
Oft lightens master's larder
Of the pudding and the meat.

-Song. “If you want a thing done, you should

do it yourself," Is an excellent maxim, no doubt in its

way; But, when citizens willingly part with their

pell, They're entitled to claim some return

for their pay. Bull does not pay Bobbies to lounge on

their beats, And leave him at last to look after his streets.

-Punch. Some thirty years ago the man in blue (journalistic) was still sometimes called “bobby peeler," a fact which bears out the generally admitted origin of bobby from Sir Robert Peel, to whom the establishment of the force was due, in 1829, and who replaced the old “Charlies” (so called from Charles I., in

Bobby-Body-slangs.

145

whose reign the system was reorganised), who then acted as constables and night-watchers in the metropolis. According to Hotten, the official squarekeeper, who is always armed with a cane to drive away idle and disorderly urchins, has, time out of mind, been called by the same urchins, “ bobby the beadle."

Bobtail (old slang), a licentious,

immodest woman of the very lowest character. One who exposed her person in public. Also

an impotent debauchce. Bob White (American), a popular but not a slang name for the quail, whose notes are supposed to resemble the words Bob-. White, with a pause between thu two words and a strong accent on the White. It is just two. thirds of the song of the whippoor-will.

The American farmer has watched his birds through the cycle of the year; has listened to the “Ah Bob White ! ah Bob White !" that with the fall of the appleblossoms begins to fill the air. — Macmillan's Magazine. Bodier (pugilistic), a blow on the

sides of the body, otherwise known as a “rib-roaster.”

Bobby twister (thieves' slang), a

burglar who would hesitate at nothing, even to shooting any policeman who might be endeavouring to capture him. A noted bobby twister was the famous burglar Peace, whose diurnal avocations were certainly in keeping with his name, as he was considered a highly respectable citizen. He was, or pretended to be, a teetotaller, and, it is said, a member of the Salvation Army. His respecta

bility ended on the gallows. Bob-cull (thieves), good fellow.

"Where be you going, you imp of the world ?" cried the dame. “Get in with you, and say no more on the matter; be a bob-cull-drop the bullies, and you shall have the blunt !"-Lytton : Paul Clifford.

Bob is a provincial term, signifying pleasant, agreeable.

Bodkin (common), an old word

still in use, with the sense of dirk, dagger. (Sporting), a person who takes his turn between the sheets on a night when the hotel has twice as many visitors as it can comfortably lodge (Hotten's Dictionary). (Common), to “ride bodkin," any one sitting between two others in a carriage, is said to “ride bodkin.”

Then he called a hansom, and expressing his willingness to “be the bodkin" (Anglice, ride in the middle), ordered the jehu to drive to Middlesex Street. — Sporting Times.

Bobs (schools), huge beer jugs.

Only those "juniors" attended whose office it was to bring away the portions of bread and cheese and bobs of beer for consumption in the afternoon.-T. A.Trollope: What I Remember. Bobstick (old), a shilling. Vide

BOB.

Body-slangs (thieves' cant), fetters for the body. Body-slangs are of two kinds.

146

Body-slangs—Bogue.

Each consists of a heavy iron ring to go round the waist, to which are attached in one case two bars or heavy chains, connected with the fetters round the ankles, in the other case a ' link at each side attached to a handcuff. Into these the wrists are locked, and thus held down to the prisoner's sides. The latter are now only to be found

in museums.- Vaux. Body snatcher (old), a bailiff or

runner; a violator of the grave; an undertaker.

still are, accustomed to frighten children at night. It is probable that aboo is the common old Irish war-cry, which was said to be so terrifying that it was formerly prohibited by law. This aboo was well-known and much talked of during the time of Elizabeth. On August 2, 1887, Mr. Courtney in Parliament invented a new form of the word. Mr. Courtney, though a partisan of the undertaking, urged that a division should be taken at once to save time. He described the speech of Baron H. de Worms as a combination of bogeyism and fogeyism. (A laugh.) Mr. W. H. Smith and Mr. J. Morley joined in the appeal to close the discussion.-Saint James's Gazette.

(Common), one's landlord, called by the French “Monsieur Vautour.” (Studios), a painting is said to be bogey when sombre tints predominate.

Bog (prison), the farm works at

Dartmoor, where much land has been reclaimed. Bog gang, the party of convicts detailed for this work. (Common), a privy. Originally printers' slang, but now very common. “To bog," to ease oneself. (Tinker), see Bogh.

Bogh (tinker), to get, hold, make

work. This appears to be a very general sort of a verb.

Bog oranges (common), potatoes,

from the fact that potatoes form the chief diet of Irish peasants.

Bogey, often called bug-aboo, a

word existing in different forms in many languages. As both God and Devil may be found in Deus, Devas, divine, Diabolus and the gypsy Duvel or Devlis (both meaning God only), so we have the divinity as Bog in Russian, and in the Celtic bug, a spirit or spectre, while in English bugge or bug is in two senses a terror, as the famous Bugge Bible and Spenser's “Faerie Queene” bear witness. The bogey or bug-aboo is an imaginary horror or monster with which vulgar, wicked, or foolish people were, and perhaps

Bog-trotter (now recognised), an

Irish peasant. “Bog-trotting," applied to an Emeralder, or to any one who lives among marshy moors.

The impudent bog-trotting scamp dare not threaten me !Thackeray: Pendennis.

Bogue, to (American), to apply

one's self very earnestly, to make every effort. “I don't git much done without I bogue right in 147

Bogue-Boiling

duced in America by Irish immigrants from boc, pronounced boke, deceit, fraud.

along with the men” (Bartlett). Boege, a bow, or a course in Dutch, is used exactly in this sense, as “het over alle bogen wenden," to try everything, to leave no stone unturned. Also in Dutch bogen, to pride one's self on employing energy in action.

Bohn (Yale College), a transla

tion, or a pony from Bohn, the name of well-known London publishers, who issued a series of translations of the Classics, the use of these becoming very common in the States; a Bohn was generally adopted as a

name for a translation. 'Twas plenty of skin with a good deal of

Bohn.
-Songs of the Jubilee : Yale College

Magazine.

Bogus (American), anything like

a sham, a fraud, a counterfeit, or a humbug Bogus money, bogus banks, &c. One of the bogus petitions in favour of the coal and wine dues unearthed by Mr. Bradlaugh is purported to be signed by no less than thirteen racehorses !-- Funny Folks.

The story which derives the name from one Borghese, who a generation ago flooded the West with counterfeit money, is, like most American derivative stories given in newspapers, extremely doubtful. As soon as an expression becomes popular, ingenious artists in literary supercheries at once manufacture for it a history. Bogus is from a cant term applied to counterfeit coin. This word is widely current in the United States, whence it has been recently imported by English newspaper writers. Among the tinklers or tinkers, a kind of Scottish gypsies, bogus means counterfeit coin, from bogh, to make, and the Romany termination us. Wilson declares that there are numbers of these tinkers in America. Dr. C. Mackay is of opinion that it was intro

Boiled shirt (Australian diggers)

a clean shirt or “clean biled rag,” as Mark Twain puts it, boiling being a primitive way of washing shirts.

John rode home with a depressed mind. As he passed the public-house which had proved the lion in the old man's path, he saw the publican, a bloated, greasy-faced man, a villainous low forehead, and a prize-fighting look, walking up and down the verandah in a boiled shirt.-A. C. Grant.

Boiler-plated (American) origi

nated in iron-clad. Utterly impenetrable, irresistible, not to be affected.

He gave me a look of boiler-plated re. proach, clapped on his hat, and was off without another word. -Mr. and Mrs. Bowser.

Boilers (Royal Military Academy),

boiled potatoes as opposed to

"greasers,” fried potatoes. Boiling or biling (common), the

“whole boiling," the whole party, or entire quantity.

148

Boiling—Bolt-in-tun.

The last mile, he said, tho' the shortest one of the whole bilin', took the longest to do it in by a jug full.-Sam Slick: The Clockmaker.

A phrase probably derived from the kitchen, and a stew or broth of many ingredients. It is a phrase more common among Irish than among English or Scotch people, though not wholly unknown to either. The Irish pronounciation is “ biling" or “bilin'.” The term is extensively used in America, and is sometimes varied to the “whole gridiron of them," applied to a

party. The latter is Irish. Boilum tea (pidgin), to boil tea,

Blongy my dis tim boilum you tea, mumpa one first chop fitee-fitee! (quick!)

Talkee dat sa-van (servant) he is savvy how boilum tea.—Pidgin Talkee.

cause of expedition. To boltone's food is to swallow without mastication; to bolt is to run away, to decamp, to disappear. The term, according to Grose, is borrowed from the rabbit-warren, because the rabbits bolt when a ferret enters into their burrows. But the derivation is probably from bult, the ancient and not yet obsolete word for an arrow, as in the current proverb “a fool's bolt is soon shot," so that to bolt is to move as swiftly as an arrow. (Prison), “getting the bolt,” being sentenced to penal servitude. “Long Bill expects bolt" informs the sympathetic or rejoicing reader that one William — expects to be sentenced to penal servitude.-Rev. J. W. Horsiey: Jottings from Jail.

Bolted (nautical), “I've been

through the mill, ground and bolted." That is, “You can't gammon me; I'm too old a bird to be caught with chaff.” Bolted in this case signifies sifted.

Boko (common), a nose.

An expert in nazography declares that a pale nose usually belongs to the selfish, cold - hearted man; whilst the highlycoloured boko is characteristic of the sanguine temperament usually possessed by the man who is hopeful that a free drink is looming in the distance.--Fun.

Originally a large nose, pos. sibly from beak, old slang for a nose, or from the old English

boche, boke, a swelling. Boler, bowler (Winchester), stiff

felt hat or pot hat.

Bolt-in-tun (London thieves),

bolted, run away, got away, one of the puns that cant and slang are so fond of. Cf. “GoBBLER,” “BILLIARD SLUM," &c.

Vaux in his Memoirs says:“A term founded on the cant word “bolt,' and merely a fanciful variation very common among flash persons, there being in London a famous inn so called. It is customary when a man has run away from his lodgings, broken out of jail, or made any other sudden move

Bolly (Marlborough) is used by

the pupils with the significa.

tion of pudding. Bolt, to (colloquial), to make a

sudden and rapid movement, for haste, alarm, perplexity, or other

Bolt the moon-Bone.

149

Bonas (popular), belles. The

difference between donnas and bonas is thus stated in a musichall ballad :Girls are in vulgar called donnas, Some are called Miss and some Mrs.; The best of them all are called bonas, The whole jolly lot's fond of kisses. --Broadside : 0 Fred, don't be so

frivolous.

ment, to say the Bolt-in-tun is concerned,' or 'he's gone to the Bolt-in-tun' instead of simply

saying, 'he has bolted,'” &c. Bolt the moon, to (common), to

cheat the landlord by taking away goods or furniture with. out paying the rent; literally to extinguish the moon and take advantage of the darkness thus produced. “To shoot the moon"

is more common. Bolus (common), an apothecary. Bombay duck (Anglo-Indian), a

small fish called the bummelo or bumbalow, which is caught on the Indian coasts. When dried it forms the well-known Bombay ducks, seen so frequently among grocers' delicacies in England.

Bonce (various), the head, called

also “crust, chump." From bonce, a marble of larger size than ordinary, used by boys. The French slang for head, bille, literally a marble, bears out this derivation.

Bombo (nautical), weak, cold

punch.

Bona (theatrical), good, varied to

“rumbo."

Bonanza (American), a Spanish

word, originally applied to profit, benefit. A profitable silver mine or a share in it is a bonanza. Now applied generally to money.

At last the train came, arid the guard on the train handed me a heavily sealed envelope, remarking as he did so

“ Be careful of that, Branthwaite. There's a bonanza in that package if it were yours or mine."

"Money?' I asked. “Yes; twenty thousand dollars.” — American Story.

But a bonanza with millions in it is not struck every week.-Scribner's Monthly.

Bone (American), a fee; to bone,

to pay a fee, or rather bribe, called bone, at the customhouse to induce the officials not to examine passengers' luggage, or to let it off lightly. From the slang bone, derived either from the French bon, or, as Murray suggests, from the middle English boon. This word is used with the sense of good by English vagabonds.

, their hieroglyphic for the word, chalked by them on houses and street corners as a hint to succeeding beggars.

(Masonic), a corruption of the Hebrew word for builder.

(Common), to bone, to steal, to pilfer, to purloin. Probably derived from bon, good, or, by extension of meaning, to seize on a good thing. The while within the pocket of her gown Childe Alice deftly placed the purse she'd boned.

humour in the thief saying that he has been boned or stolen by the policeman when taken into custody.

Tell us how you was boned, signifies tell us the story of your apprehension, a common request among fellow-prisoners in a jail, which is readily complied with as a rule; and the various circumstances therein related afford present amusement and also useful hints for regulating their future operations, so as to avoid the like mis. fortune.-Vaur.

Alas! its contents were not worth a

"brown;" His winnings all were "stumers," and

she groaned. “The world is too much with us !" poor Childe Alice moaned.

-Bird of Freedom. This word, according to the Glossary of Cant in Bampfyled Moore Carew, also signifies to apprehend, to arrest, to take into custody, to “nab.” Compare with the French cant phrase "être le bon,” which has the same meaning.

(American cadets), to study hard ; possibly a playful allusion to the more universal slang meaning of the verb “to bone," the meaning of course being to convey the idea of acquiring knowledge by force — an appropriate reading of the word for the cadets of West Pointbut more probably from Bohn's translations. For other deriva

tion, see BOONDER. Bone box (old slang), the mouth;

the teeth are now called the

“ivories." Bone-crusher (South African), a

heavy bore rifle for killing big game. African game require bone-crushers ; for any ordinary carbine possesses sufficient penetrative quality, yet has not the disabling quality which a gun must possess to be useful in the hands of an African explorer. – H. Stanley: How I found Livingstone. Boned (thieves), taken into cus

tody. To bone is to take what does not belong to one. There is therefore a world of dry

Bone-grubber (common), a person

who hunts for bones in dustholes, or any spot where refuse is thrown. The bone grubber and the mud-lark differ little in their pursuits.-Mayhew: London Labour and the London Poor.

The term was also applied to a resurrectionist. Cobbett was therefore called a bone-grubber because he brought the remains of Tom Paine from America (Hotten).

Bone-lazy (common), excessively

or hopelessly lazy. Boneless, a ghost, a shadowy and

impalpable spectre or apparition.

Bone muscle, to (American

cadets), to frequent the gymnasium ; frequently to take exercise there.

Bone-picker (common), a footman.

Boner (Winchester), a blow given

with the fist on the lowest vertebra.

Bones (medical), the bones of the

human skull. “Do you know your bones ? ” i.e., are you familiar with the anatomy of the human skeleton. (Stock Exchange), Wickens, Pease & Co.'s

shares. So now we shall soon have our "crackers,"

And likely enough our “cheroots," While our bones can be sent to the

“knackers,” And then we have sweet “Sarah's boots.”

-Atkin: House Scraps. (Common), to rattle the bones, to play at dice. Bone setter (old), a hard or fast

trotting horse.

Bone standing (American cadet),

to bone standing, to study hard for a class position (0. E.

Wood: United States Army). Bong (Australian blackfellows'

lingo), dead. This word is a specimen of the pidgin-English, stuffed with native words, in which intercourse is carried on with the blacks on stations. “ Yohi," said the boy, still sitting on his horse, "altogether bong" (dead), "one fellow bail bong" (one not dead). “Which one bail bong?" demanded John in terror. “Missis bail bong ony, caw bawn frighten" (Missis not dead, only dreadfully frightened). – A. C. Grant : Bush Life in Queensland. Bonger, bănger (gypsy), to bend,

bow, duck, dodge, to twist or turn; bongo, bent, turned, unwilling, sinister, crooked, evil, distorted, awry. “O bongo yākk”_" The evil eye.” “O bongo wast "_" The left hand.” “A bongo zi” (or see)—“A crooked, evil heart.” “O bongo rikk o'the drom "_" The left. band side of the road."

Bone shaker (common), a name

given to the old - fashioned bicycle, which was a clumsy wood machine, and was superseded by the spider steel machine, which is now being superseded in its turn by the smaller “Safety."

Bone shave, the sciatica or rheu

matic gout in the sciatic nerve. According to Mr. Thomas Wright in his Archaic Dictionary, the peasantry of Exmore hada charm for the supposed cure or relief of this malady, consisting in the repetition of the following dog. gerel lines as the patient lay on his back on the brink of a brook or river, with a staff by his side between him and the water.

Bone shave right,

Bone shave straight.
As the water runs by the stone
Good for bone shave.

Boning (American cadets), boning

the adjutant, a violent or immoderate assumption of a military air or bearing ; a swaggering military fillibuster; a Bombastes Furioso. Boning demerit, said of a cadet who avoids giving cause for being reported to the authorities (O. E. Wood: United

States Army). Bonnet (thieves), a pretext or pretence. Vaux defines it thus: -“A concealment, a pretext, a pretence, an ostensible manner

Booby-trap (Winchester), the door

of a room is left open, and on the topare placed some big books and a wet sponge, so that when it is pushed the whole falls on the head of whoever opens it. This time-honoured species of practical joking is not confined to Winchester. Books were closed, booby-traps scattered, sofa-pillows restored to their legitimate places.-Chambers's Journal.

of accounting for what you really wish to conceal; as a man who lives by depredation, will still outwardly follow some honest employment, as a clerk, porter, newsman.” One who metaphorically bonnets or blinds other people; a bonnet or bonneter is also a sham bidder at auctions; a confederate in thimblerig or three cards; one who pretends to buy of a crocus pitcher or street medicine vendor so as to entice purchasers. In French, bonneteur is one who is profuse of compliments and bows; hence a swindler who tries to wheedle people out of their money; also a three-card trick sharper. To bonnet for a person, is to corroborate any assertion he has made, or to relate facts in the most favourable light, in order to extricate him from a dilemma, or to further any object he has in view.

(Common), to smash a man's hat over his face, a favourite amusement of London roughs.

T'wo young men who . . . varied their amusements by bonneting the proprietor of this itinerant coffee-house. ---Dickens : Sketches.

Boodgeree (Australian bush

slang), a blackfellow's word for “good,” incorporated into the slang of the white. Used principally in the pidgin-English, in which the whites carry on their conversation with the blacks. A very common word. What was his fate then might be mine in a few minutes. I determined to keep still and wait for what might turn up. Presently I heard bushes rustling some distance behind, and the voice of a blackfellow, uttering in that strange tone in which the wild savage first pronounces English words--boodgeree (white fellow. good, good white fellow).-A. C. Grant. Bush Life in Queensland.

Bonneter (thieves), a crushing

blow on the hat.

Bonnets so blue (rhyming slang),

Irish stew.

Boodle (American), booty, profit,

perquisites, plunder. Commonly
used with regard to government
transactions, contracts, &c., by
which the public are cheated.
'Twas Yankee doodle once I swore,
But it is Yankee boodle now,

-American Paper. This word in the United States is applied among thieves only to counterfeit or bad money. The boodle carrier is the man who carries the counterfeit or “queer," while the shover passes

Bono, good. (East), bono Johnny,

an Englishman.

Booby-hutch (thieves), the police

station.

it off. “At the first sign of trouble the boodle carrier vanishes, leaving nothing to criminate his com-rogue” (New York Slang Dictionary).

(American political), boodle explained by quotation. In the States the money used for electioneering purposes is known as boodle, “sinews of war," and "living issues." — Cornhill Magasine.

Boodle has also the signification of property, wealth ; unquestionably from the Dutch boedel, household stuff. Also an estate left by persons deceased. (Popular), a stupid noodle (Murray).

Book (literary), the libretto of an

opera.

This piece will be followed by a new comic opera called "Compère Guillery," by H. Perry, the book being by Messrs. Julian Perry and Paul Burani. - Sporting Times.

(Turf), an arrangement of bets against certain horses marked in a pocket-book made for that purpose. "Making a book upon it," is a common phrase that a man is prepared to lay the odds against the horses in a race. “That does not suit my book,” i.e., does not accord with myotherarrangements (Hotten).

Bookies (turf), the bookmakers. The bookies came down like wolves on the

fold To try and secure all the “ Jubilee" gold. Some plumped for St. Mirin, but wrongly

had reckoned, For Annamite won, and the "Saint” was but second.

-Turf.
Past Epsom's Spring, again we try

Our luck with bookies and with horses
On yet another field, where lie
The mysteries of the Guineas' courses.

-Bird . Freedom, The toughest bookie, as well as the airiest turfite, will be sorry to hear of the death of a genial fellow.– The World. Books (Winchester). There are

prizes given at the end of each half by Lord Save and Sele to the two seniors in each division. These are called the books. To get books is to obtain one of these prizes. When a part or division are saying a lesson, the pupils sit at one end of “school,” in three rows; they are then said to be “up to books." The Don sits in his chair with his side towards them, and the “man " who is saying the lesson

stands in front of him. Books (card players), a pack of

cards. Boom (American), properly the

distant sound as of thunder gradually increasing in intensity. This word, from being a favourite one in American oratory, began to be applied in 1880 to any great advance or rise in business or politics. A great boom in cotton refers to an advance in price and greater activity in the market, while

Booked (common), disposed of,

caught.

Book-form (turf), the relative

powers of speed or endurance of race-horses as gauged by the " book," i.c., the published record in the calendar of races past.

colony "a kangaroo of such magnitude, that being a long way from home, he was unable though on horseback to carry away any portion except the tail, which alone weighed thirty pounds. This species is called the boomah, and stands about seven feet high."--Lieut.-Col. Munday: Our Antipodes.

Boomer (American), a very big

specimen, a huge snake or kan-
garoo.
And should you ask how such a one

A mighty hunter grew,
So many flying does outsped,

So many boomers slew.

the first rumour that a certain man will obtain a nomination to office may be announced in a newspaper in large letters at the head of a column as, “A boom for Smith!”

A BOOM FOR Hill.-A movement is on foot in Washington to organise a David B. Hill boom for the Presidency.--Chicago Tribune.

In the present case many influences seem to work in the direction of a boom.—Truth.

Some Prospero waved his magic wand, the world made discovery that it was posi. tively languishing for want of more copper and tin, all visible supplies were eagerly bought up, and the great mining boom of 1887 was fairly started. --Globe.

(Journalistic), a boom refers to the publication in a newspaper of some correspondence which will raise up a polemic, and, by thus attracting the attention of the public, increase the sale of the paper.

The latest Daily Telegraph boom“Our Daughters"—is going on merrily, and the views of the various young ladies are distinctly interesting to note.--Globe.

(Nautical), to“ top one's boom off,” to be off or start in a certain direction.

But suddenly the vision passed,

And Bill became aware,
That he was in the boomer's arms,

And bounding through the air.
-J. B. Stephens : Marsupial Bill.

A very great lie, a very big flea; a very long hit at cricket would be described as a boomer, or a regular boomer (used by “slangy" Australians). A boomer is probably that which makes a big boom or noise, and so something very big. We have the same metaphor in "a great

gun."

Boomah (Australian), a very large

kind of kangaroo. This word is probably a mistake of Colonel Munday's. He heard the kangaroo called a boomer because of its enormous size : the word was strange to him, and he imagined it to be a variety of kangaroo, and not a slang word expressive of size. An officer from Van Diemen's Land told me that he had once killed in that

Boomerang (American), properly

a carved flat weapon used by the natives in Australia, which, when thrown, returns to the thrower. In American journalism the word is frequently used to indicate some evil measure, or act, or falsehood, which, like a curse, has "come home to roost,” or recoiled on the head of its author. The title, “A Bourbon Boomerang,” in an American newspaper, means that the Democrats have been in

Boozing cheat (thieves), a bottle. Boozing ken (popular), a public

house. Boozington (Australian prison

slang), a drunken man. In England, Lushington (one who lushes or drinks) is the equivalent term.

Boozy (popular), partially intoxi

cated; what the vulgar colloquialism calls the “worse for liquor," or“disguised in liquor." Formerly not slang.

Booze (common), drink; to booze,

to drink heavily. To be “on the booze," to be out on a drunken jollification, going from one public-house to another. The word is derivable from "bouse," to drink deep or carouse. In Wright's Archaic Dictionary ** boose” is defined as meaning, in some of the rural districts, a cattle “trough," where kine and horses drink. In Warwickshire and Leicestershire the trough is called a “booson.” Some etymologists derive this from the Hindostani booza, drink, and others from the Dutch buy. zen, to tipple—with more reason, as the term was good English in the fourteenth century.

Thomas Harman, in his “ Caveat, or Warening for Common Cursetors," 1568, has bouse for drink, and to bouse for to drink. " I say by the Salomon I will lage it of with a gage of bene bouse; then cut to my nose watch. Why, hast thou any lowre in thy bonge to bouse?"_“I say by the mass I will wipe it off with a quart of good drink,

Borak (colonial), to “poke borak," applied in colonial conversation to the operations of a person who pours fictitious information into the ears of a credulous listener (Notes and Queries, 7th

Series, vol. iii. p. 476). Bordeaux (pugilistic), blood,

termed also “claret, Badminton."

Borde (old cant), a shilling. Pro

bably originated in the term “bord,” formerly a duty paid in fairs and markets for setting up tables, boards, and stalls.

Bord you (nautical), a phrase used

to claim the next turn after one

who is drinking. Used also in Norfolk by harvesters.

Bore, to (pugilistic), to drive an

opponent on to the ropes of the ring by sheer weight. Mollineaux tried to bore down his opponent by main strength ; Cribb deter. mined to prevent him if possible by repeat. ing some desperate blows on the head. - Thomas Cribb: Pugilistica.

(Athletics), to push an opponent out of his course.

Boring (turf), when a horse in

running hangs upon another so as to interfere with his chance of winning, the process, whether intentional on the part of the jockey or the result of the exhaustion or bad temper of the animal, is called boring. It usually leads to recrimination, and occasionally to disqualification.

a noise or sound of any kind,
and is also used in all the senses
of the Turkish word to denote
emptiness, just as we might say
“ that is all talk.” “Hatch
your bosh,” or “boshеrin,” stop
your noise, is quite the same
as stop your bosh. And as the
English gypsy bosh, in fact,
comes rather nearer to the Eng-
lish slang word than the Turkish,
it seems most likely that the
Romany supplied it. Bosh or
bāsh in gypsy has also the
meaning of music, and is ap.
plied to a violin. It was, and
may yet be, a test of a “tra-
veller's” proficiency in gypsy
habits, or in the Romany lan-
guage, to put to him the fol-
lowing verse:
“O can you rokker Romanis ?

O can you kill the bosh ?
O can you já to staruben ?

O can you chin the kosh?"-
i.e. “O can you talk Romany?

O can you play the fiddle ?
O can you go to prison ?

O can you cut the wood ?"
The last line refers to making
skewers or other articles of wood

-the last resort for a gypsy when poor. Bosh faker (itinerants), violinist.

Bosh is gypsy for a violin. A great many expressions used by the lowest class of actors are

from the gypsy. Also boshman. Bosh lines (showmen), literally

violin strings, explained by quotation. Both of these men have Marionette frames, and are Marionette performers in

Born weak (nautical), when a

vessel is feebly built, she is said to have been born weak.

Bosh (colloquial), nonsense.

This gentleman whispered to his comrade the — (I believe of Eastern derivation) the monosyllable bosh!- Thackeray: The Adventures of Philip.

“This well-known word is alleged," say the authors of the Anglo-Indian Glossary, “to be taken from the Turkish bosh, signifying empty, vain, useless, &c. (Redhouse's Dictionary); but we have not been able to trace its history or first appearance in English.” Bosh in English, and all other gypsy dialects, means

Во

addition ; and invariably charge more for their engagement when working the Ma. rionettes, or “bosh lines," as they call them, as well. --Tit Bits.

Bos-ken (tramps), a farm-house.

Bosky (popular), drunk; from

bosky, swelled, in fact, "tight.” Reminding Corinthian Tom and Jerry Hawthorn of the Oxonian and his inclination to get bosky.-Punch.

Bosman (tramps), a farmer.

Dutch.

I've seen the swell bosmen buy the pills to give the people standing about, just to hear the crocus patter.-Henry Mayhew: London Labour and the London Poor,

ter, to domineer, to lord it, the pronunciation of baars and boss being the same. And this origin is borne out by the circumstance that the French argot has beausse for the master of a house, rich citizen, man of importance, which was borrowed from Flemish vagabonds and thieves. In Norfolk boss is used in the sense of master, or one who can beat and overcome another. In the North of England “bossock” and “bossy” mean large, fat, with a large belly. The last word bears a close resemblance to the French bossu ; but of course a “bossy” man and a bossu differ in respect of the position of the protuberance.

In America boss is also used as an adjective with the sense of principal, large, fine, as a boss lot of apples. Many a time have I let the “boss mine,' or the "boss ranch" slip through my fin. gers 1-F. Francis: Saddle and Mocassin.

Boss, an American and colonial

term extensively used in England by all classes in a variety of meanings, such as master, head.

Boss horse-shoers now charge fifty cents extra for shoeing, to meet the demands of the journeymen.-The Weekly Bulletin, San Francisco.

You want a boss cook and a beauty, don Cabeza, eh! Well I guess I am both. What'll you give me to come to the mine and cook ?-F. Francis : Saddle and Mo. cassin.

The station-boss stopped dead still and glared at me speechless. - Mark Twain: Roughing It.

Much philological research has been devoted to establish the complete etymology of this word, it being held that it is connected with boss, a round, salient protu. berance which rises, so to speak, in a superior manner above the surrounding surface; but most philologists agree in deriving it from the Dutch baas, master; den baas speelen, to play the mas

Boss is often used as a verb, with the signification to own, manage, superintend, conduct. Our gallant chief, bossing the situation as usual, insisted upon the National Anthem being played at the conclusion of the sport, and subsequently called for three cheers for the Queen.-Sporting Times. “ Old Blivins, who bossed the local sheet, And the lawyer who worked for beer

as a fee; In a maudlin state wandered down the

street, Having had a dejected kind of spree."

- Keighley Goodchild: Waif, In short, with no other counteracting force than an old lady and a youth of eighteen, it is easy to see that a “free.

booter " like the Captain bossed the show, just as he had done at the Pantheon.Sporting Times.

He was bossing the cooking himself that evening, and at that moment was engaged in stirring some beans that he was frying in the Mexican style, bacon-fat being substituted for lard.-F. Francis : Saddle and Mocassin.

“ Bossed his own shoes," managed his affairs personally.

At any rate, the elder Hegner has hitherto bossed his own shoes, &c.— Truth.

Who is a gentleman? On returning from the Lichfield Coursing Meeting the other evening, one of the runners with the telegraph messages from the ground to the Lichtield telegraph office was given a ride home, and when nearing Lichfield it was discovered that some one was seated in front by the side of the coachman. The boss wanting to know who it was, asked the boy what gentleman that was riding by the side of the driver, and the reply was as follows, “He's no gentleman, sir, he's only a policeman." - Bird o Freedom.

The Australian employé gene. rally speaks of his master as the boss, though he seldom would address him as boss except when the master is really in the same station of life as himself. It is disrespectful to address a man as bo88 in Australia. The “Larrikin" is rather fond of prefacing his impertinences to passers by with, “ I say, Boss." I remember a certain South Australian aide-de-camp, who was a tremendous “masher," coming over to Melbourne for "the Cup." He was wearing one of those stiff-starched four-inch collars, irreverently styled “jampots," and was saluted in Bourke Street on the “ Cup night " with " I say, Boss, how much for the celluloid ?" from an individual who was not to be crushed by a withering glance through a deliberately screwed-in eyeglass.

-D. B. W. Sladen. "The Darky Boss: the trashy white,'

a 'brudder,' Man at the prow and woman at the

rudder." -J. B. Stephens : Macaulay's New

Zealander. Cabmen use the term with the sense of the “fare,” in Paris le bourgeois (which has also all the other meanings of boss).

“ Boss of the shanty,” master, manager of the place.

The young man who lives not far from Burdett Road, who sports a P. and 0. cap, and wore a C. medal at the Poplar early closing concert, should have strutted about so. Was he looking for the fair young lady, or did he fancy himself “boss of the shanty?"-Toby.

Boss of the show, manager of a theatre, music-hall, circus, or a man who gives an entertainment. Miss Leonora Bradley, well known in America, will open shortly in London, at a West End theatre, with a new play called “Jess," written by the authors of “My Sweetheart." Eugène C. Stafford will be boss of this show, of which report speaks highly.--Bird o' Freedom.

(Popular), to boss anything, to make a mess of it, to spoil it.

Bossaroo, used by J. B. Stephens,

the Australian comic poet, as an
abbreviation of “Boss Kanga-
roo.
Ringed by the fathers of the tribe,

Surrounded, yet alone,
The Bossaroo superbly posed

Upon a granite throne,
A very old “old man," who had
Four generations known.
-). B. Stephens : Marsupiai Birl

Bossers (common), spectacles ;

because (specially in the case of short-sighted persons) they make one look “boss-eyed" or squinting, or from the studs on horses' blinkers.

Boston (American), an expres.

sion which owes much of its meaning to the tone and accent with which it is uttered. Sometimes it is Bosting, the nasal Yankee form of the word. It is meant to satirise provincial vanity, and the peculiar form of priggishness which is declared by envious New Yorkers and others to be characteristic of "the hub of the universe." The city of Boston unquestion. ably is, as regards literary cul. ture, far in advance of any city in America, a fact of which its indwellers are by no means ignorant.

the people in the place, were soon in a furious row, when a tall, dignified man, observing that there was a stranger present, restored quiet as by a miracle. All that he did was to utter in an absent-minded way, “ Boston culchaw-ahem!” There was a sudden silencea marked sensation, as if an electric current had in a second struck every heart — and the ladies, forgetting the handkerchief, at once retreated. It is said that the police experience no difficulty in stopping dog. fights, "plug-masses,” or rows in the lowest taverns; they have but to cry, “Is this æsthetic? Is this becoming Boston ?" Happy the city whose detractors can find in it no worse subject of ridicule than its de

votion to culture. Botany Bay (Oxford), a name for

Worcester College, Oxford, given in reference to the situation of the building, which is at some distance from the centre of the town.

(Prison slang), penal servitude generally, but going out of use, as transportation, which began in 1787, ceased in 1867. Botany Bay (now known as New South Wales) first received convicts in

1787. Botch (old), a nickname for a

tailor. From to botch, to patch

up clumsily. Bottle (sporting), it turned out no

bottle, did not turn out well,

Boston culchaw (American). It

is declared by the dwellers in the other (doubtless envious) cities of America that the inhabitants of Boston are so proud of their “culture,” that however excited or unruly they may become, any person can at once call them to order by referring to it. In a letter from the Hub to the Chicago Tribune there is a detailed and apparently perfectly truthful narrative of two “ladies," or at least “women of wealth,” who began to quarrel furiously in a shop over a counter for a shilling handkerchief. The bystanders, and finally all

Bottle-arsed-Bounce.

161

failed. (Popular), bottle-headed, stupid.

Bottle-arsed (printers), type that

is thickened at the bottom or feet is thus described. This cir. cumstance arises from the fact of it being worn by continual impression, and sometimes hastened by improper “planing" down or levelling, preparatory to laying the form on for printing.

bottom of a depression or valley, Mostly used in compounds such as ti-tree (tea-tree) bottom.

It led Into a forest track which oft Was blocked by tea-tree bottom soft Or fallen trunk, compelling them To make detours, and thrice a stem Some inches through must needs be

topped On pain of being wholly stopped.

--D. B. W. Sladen : A Summer

Christmas. Bottom-growths is good English for grass growing on low lands.

(American), “ soda and dark bottom," soda and brown brandy.

Bottom dollar (American), last

dollar. We'll go our bottom dollar. Sporting Times.

Bottle-holder (pugilistic), one of

the seconds attending a prize fight in the ring, who takes charge of the water bottle and holds the combatant on his knees between the rounds, whilst the other sponges and otherwise attends to him.

Lord Palmerston was so nicknamed after a speech he made when Foreign Secretary.

The noble Lord told the deputation that the past crisis was one which required on the part of the British Government much generalship and judgment, and that a good deal of judicious bottle-holding was obliged to be brought into play. The phrase bottle-holding, borrowed from the prize. ring, offended a good many persons.Justin M'Carthy: A History of Our Own Times.

Botts (popular), the colic. Pro

perly small worms in the rectum of a horse.

Botty (popular), conceited. (Nur

sery), a contraction for an infant's posterior. The French

equivalent is tutu. Boughs, up in the (old), in a

passion.

Bottle of spruce (rhyming slang),

a dence, slang for twopence. Bottling (theatrical), the same as

applies to hobbing. Bottom (common), spirit placed

in a glass before water is poured in.

(Up country Australian), the scrubby, swampy ground in the

Bounce (common), cherry-brandy.

(Popular and thieves), a bully or swell; a “rank bounce," a great swell. To bounce, to swindle, to cheat by false representations.

You will get no cheque or anything else out of us, so you had better travel down to Dover under the seat ; and if you can't bounce the “ Johnnies" on the boat, you'll have to swim from Dover to Calais.Sporting Times.

162

Bouncer-Bousing-ken.

Also a four-wheeled cab, otherwise known as a "growler." Bound to be had (popular), des

tined to be outwitted or cheated. Sold again! What a shame! it is really

too bad, The way that I'm treated is certainly sad, 'Tis my phiz that they quiz like my mother

and dad, So wherever I go I am bound to be had.

-F. Caughan: Ballad. Bounge, bonge, or bung (old

cant), a purse, and also for a pickpocket. A corruption of

the English bougct, wallet. Boung nipper (old), a pickpocket,

or, as they were then called, “cut-purses."

(American), bounced, dismissed, turned out; "given the G. B.," i.e., grand bounce, to be turned out with great in

dignity. Bouncer (popular), a swindler, a

person who steals whilst bargaining with a tradesman, a large, stout man or woman.

(Prison), a male companion of a prostitute, who lives on her gains, and who, by intimidation and threats, extorts money from men whom she entices.

(Naval), a gun that kicks violently when fired. Bouncing cheat (old cant), a bottle,

probably from the noise made when opening it and drawing the cork, or a corruption of

boozing-cheat. Bounder (university), a student

whose manners are despised by the soi-disant dite, or who is beyond the boundary of good fellowship; also a dog-cart.

(Society), a swell, a stylish fellow, but of a very vulgar type.

I said something one day about my own attire, and she remarked that if I ordered the particular hat I desired I should be taken for a bounder; and when I asked what that meant, she said, “Oh, a toff, you know." Feeling that my ignorance had better be displayed no further, I departed by the next train. --St. James's Gazette: Culture of the Misses. A bounder comes above the sunset hill,

Who'll come and make his stay; For he's the snipe with writs who is possest,

No human force can chase that dun away. He is the boss! and in possession still.

- Bird ' Freedom,

Bounty jumper (American), a

soldier who deserts to enlist into another regiment for the sake of the bounty. Manager of Caledonian Sports—"In what line are you a contestant ?" Applicant-“I am a jumper." "Ah, you have made a record ?” “I made a pretty fair one during the war, I jumped the bounty five or six times.”—Philadelphia Call.

Bourbon democrats (American),

according to their Republican opponents, the Democrats, especially those of the South, are like the Bourbons, because they have “forgotten nothing, and

learned nothing,” since the war. Bouse, or booze out (naval), a

good bouse out is a good feed, a “tightener.”

Bousing.ken (old cant), tavern.

ale - house, modernised into “ boozing-ken."

Bousing-ken—Bowl.

163

“And byng to rome vyle, to nypa bonge; so shall we haue lowre for the bousing-ken."-Harman : A Caveat.

i.e., “And let us away to London, to cut a purse; so we shall have money for the ale-house."

him leaning on a fire hydrant, and accosted him with, "My friend, I want to go to Broadway." Whereupon the Bowery boy, drawing up his shoulders and taking another chew on his cigar, “Well, why the — don't yer go, then?" -Chicago Tribune.

Forting thinks the term is a gypsy corruption of the Hindostani booza, drink, and khana, house. Bousin, or bousingot, in the slang of French sailors, is a drinking place or “lushcrib,” from the Dutch buyzen, to tipple.

Bovine heart (medical), not the

heart of an ox, but a human heart, which, owing to disease of one set of valves, has become so much enlarged as to equal in size that of an ox.

In New York other species of roughs were termed “dead rabbits," “ five pointers," and “ Water - Street rats;” the roughs of Baltimore were known as “blood tubs” and “plug uglies,” in Philadelphia as “Shifflers” and “moyamensings,” and in New Orleans as “tigers” (New York Slang

Dictionary). Bowled (Winchester), synony. mous with “croppled,” or “crop. ped," that is, turned in for a lesson at “standing up," when at the end of cloister time all below senior part have to repeat eight lessons, that is, from 150 to 400 lines.

Bow-catcher (popular), a corrup

tion of beau-catcher, a small curl which formerly was worn twisted on the temples. French "accroche-caurs” (rouflaquettes in the case of prostitutes' bul. lies), and American “spitcurls.”

Bowery boy (American, specially

New York), for many years the rough or rowdy of New York was called the Bowery boy, from a street, the Bowery (Dutch Bouwerie), which he was supposed to peculiarly affect. When I first knew it both the old Bowery Theatre and the old Bowery boy were in their glory. It was about that time that Thackeray, taking some notes in Gotham, had an encounter with the Bowery boy that seems to have slipped into history. The caustic satirist had heard of the Bowery boy, as the story goes, and went to see him on his native heath. He found

Bowled out (thieves), convicted; . a metaphor taken from cricket,

where the batsman's innings is concluded for good when he is bouled out.

A man who has followed the profession of thieving for some time, when he is ultimately taken, tried, and convicted, is said to be bowled out at last ; to bowl out a person in a general sense, means to detect him in the commission of any fraud or peculation, which he has hitherto practised without discovery. - Vau.r's Memoirs.

Bowles (popular), shoes.
Bowl out, to (general), to put out

of a game, to detect.

164

Bowl-Box.

Bowl the hoop (rhyming slang),

soup.

derived from bow-wow, a servile personal attendant.

Bowly, bowry (Anglo-Indian), a

well. These in India are often grand and beautiful structures, the water being reached by broad flights of stairs, with resting-places here and there.

To persons not familiar with the East, such an architectural object as a bow-lee may seem a strange perversion of inge. nuity ; but the grateful coolness of all subterranean apartments, especially when accompanied by water, and the quiet gloom of these recesses, fully compensate in the eyes of the Hindu for the more attractive magnificence of the ghats. Consequently the descending flights of which we are now speaking, have often been more elaborate and expensive pieces of architecture than any of the buildings above ground found in their vicinity-Fergusson: Indian and Eastern Architecture, Anglo-Indian Glossary. Bows (nautical), wide in the bows,

having large hips and posteriors. To have a large “barge," same meaning.

Box (common), to be in the wrong
box, to be mistaken. The ex-
pression is old, and has passed
into the language.
“Sir," quoth I, “ if you will hear how
St. Augustine expounded to that place,
you shall perceive that you are in a wrong
box."-Ridley, 1554.

(Thieves), cell.
In a box of the stone jug I was born,
Of a hempen widow the kid forlorn,
Fake away!

-Ainsworth : Rookwood. To box (Australian station slang), to join, or mix. It now was time to mark the lambs, And make young ewes distinct from rams.

Bowse, or bouse up the jib

(nautical), an old phrase, meaning to tipple. “ Bowsing his tib or jib” is said of a man who

has been drinking freely. Bowsprit (old), the nose. The

analogy is evident between the most prominent part of the face and the bowsprit of a vessel. More modern are the “boko," “conk,” and “smeller."

While he the overseer would come
With full hands from the station home,
From which they'd start at break of day,
And do the marking in a day;
And still he cautioned each to heed,
And look out as he did proceed.
“Now, mind yourselves, for if you bor.
You'll play the mischief with the flocks."
- Dugald Ferguson, N.2.: The Lambs,

in “Castle Joy and other Poems." Boxed in (thieves), explained by

quotation. When there were three in a job there would always be one outside to look out, not only for any person coming along, but for lights in the windows, showing that somebody had been disturbed, in which case it was easy for him to whistle a warning to his pals to clear out. But the singlehanded man lacked these various advantages. It was neck or nothing with him when he was once boxed in (when he entered a house), and a revolver was his best safeguard.-J. Greenwood: A Converted Burglar. Box Harry, to (commercial tra

vellers), to go without dinner

Bow-wow (old), a contemptuous

term for a man born in Boston, Mass. It is possible that this meaning was in the first place

for want of the money to procure it, or having dinner and tea at one meal to save expense. Formerly, it is said, truants confined at school, without fire, fought or boxed a figure nicknamed Harry (probably the devil), which hung in their room, to keep themselves warm. That may be the origin of the phrase. In Lincolnshire, to box Harry is to be careful after being extravagant. To box the devil on account of one's poverty strongly reminds one of the French “tirer le diable par la queue,” to be “hard up.”

agents, i Pope's Head Alley, E.C. X. can send us particulars at once. Pommery '74, extra sec., is our favourite kind of boy, but there aren't many brands that we aren't equal to tackling at this establishment.Sporting Times.

(Popular), a hump on a man's back. A hunch, or hump back man is sometimes spoken of as if he were two persons—“him and his boy."

(Anglo-Indian and pidgin), throughout the East personal servants of any age are called boys. The authors of the AngloIndian Glossary observe that similar uses of the word are to be found in the Vulgate, also in the Arabic, and German literature, while Shakspeare makes Fluelen say“Kill the poys and the luggage! 'tis expressly against the laws of arms !"

In pidgin-English a servant is boy, whilst boy in the ordi. nary sense is “ one small boy." In Tonkin the word is used by the French with a like signification.

Box hat (common), a silk hat,

termed also a “chimney-pot.” Box of dominoes (popular), the mouth.

Box the Jesuit, to (old), a term

to express a secret vice. Box - wallah (Anglo-Indian), a

hybrid Hindu word, from bakas, or the English box, and wala, a pronominal termination. A boxwallah is a small pedlar, who sells cheap wares, and who corresponds closely to many of his cousins, the pedling gypsies of

England.
Boy (society), champagne, pro.

bably derived from the term
“ lively boy," which is often ap-
plied to a young man brimming
over with animal spirits.

To be let, cheap, in the Royal Exchange, a small, well-fitted office, with use of boy. Suitable for stockbroker or solicitor.-X., care of Leathwait & Simmons, advertising

Boycott, to (general), a now gene

rally accepted term, used with the signification of to send to Coventry, to stand aloof. The French equivalent is “mettre en quarantaine." “Why, Mabel, dear, I have not seen you for the last ten days: surely you don't mean to boycott Regent Street ?"

“I don't want to boycott Regent Street, but they may want to Endacott me."Sporting Times.

From Captain Boycott, an Irish landlord, who lay under a kind of excommunication, all

Brace up, to (thieves), to pawn

stolen goods. Hotten so defines it, but Vaux says: “To dispose of stolen goods by pledging them for the utmost you can get at a pawnbroker's is termed

bracing them up.'' Bracket-faced (old), of unpleasing

features, hard-visaged or ugly. Bracket-mug (popular), a very

ugly face, mug being slang for

face.

Boys (turf), the crowd of “ram

pers,” “ brief snatchers,” “wel. shers," "magsmen,” “lumberers,” and other rogues who flourish on every racecourse.

I should think that there is hardly a bookmaker in Tattersall's, or even one of the ready-money fraternity, who would not willingly subscribe to a fund for the laudable purpose of cleansing the rings from those foul abominations, those criminal scoundrels known as the boys. These vermin rob the public annually of thousands of pounds, and divert from the pockets of the bookmakers a perfect river of gold.Bird o' Freedom.

The boys is also a designation occasionally applied to the ring. “He is not on terms with the boys," means that the person alluded to has lost more money than he can pay, and does not venture within hail of the book. makers.

Brads (thieves), halfpence, money.

Hotten says, brads, money ; Vaux, “Brads are halfpence, also money in general.” Properly brads are a kind of nails used by cobblers. “Get anything?"

“Get anything? Not a brad, s'welp my never. The old bloke vhas a sittin' up a sharpenin' his scissors."

“But you must a' got something?"

“Vhell, yes-I vhas lucky to get out without bein' made a sheeny myself."Sporting Times. Brag (thieves), a money-lender at

exorbitant interest, a Jew. Brain-pan (medical), the skull

cap, the calvaria, also the skull itself. (Common), the head, called also “nob, nut, know

ledge-box, canister, chump." Bramble, a Kentish term for a

lawyer.

Brace, to (American thieves), to

get credit by swagger. To brace it through, to do a thing by

sheer impudence. Bracelets (police), handcuffs. Its

equivalent is used in French slang. “You'd better slip the bracelets on him, Jim." The fellow on my left produced a pair of handcuffs.-Miss Braddon : Robert Ainsleigh.

“Ah, but I do!" exclaimed the detec. tive, suddenly seizing the trembling wretch. “Come, let's slip the bracelets on.”—G. Sims : Rogues and Vagabonds. Brace of shakes, in a (popular),

in a moment.

Bramble - gelder. In Suffolk a

derisive appellation for an agriculturist (Hotten).

Bran (popular), bread. French

soldiery call it boule de son.

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He purchased ... a half-quartern loaf, or, as he himself expressed it, a fourpenny bran.-Charles Dickens : Oliver Twist. Branded ticket (nautical), a dis.

charge given to an infamous man, on which his character is given, and the reason he is turned out of the service

(Admiral Smyth). Brandy coatee, brandy (Anglo

Indian), a cloak, a coat for the rain. Barani-kurti seems to be a kind of hy. brid shaped by the English word "coat," though kurti and kurta are true Persian words for various forms of jacket and tunic. —Anglo-Indian Glossary. Brandy-faced (popular), red faced

Is generally said of one who is in the habit of drinking spirits

in excess. Brandy pawnee (Anglo - Indian

and English gypsy), brandy and water. From pāni, Hindu and Romany, for water. In Eng. land “parny” is a common slang word for water.

I'm sorry to see you, gentlemen, drink ing brandy pawnee. It plays the deuce with our young men in India.-Thackeray: The Newcomes. Bran-mash (army), bread broken

up and soaked in coffee or tea at breakfast, or the evening meal, which consists of dry bread only, as the regular ration, men in funds adding red herrings, eggs, and other savoury condiments according to choice.

See FLOATING BATTERIES. Brass (colloquial), impudence,

“cheek,” from the immovable

hard-set countenance of a bold, impudent person, the front d'airain of the French expression abbreviated into avoir le front de . . ., to have the audacity.

She in her defence made him appear such a rogue upon record, that the Chief Justice wondered he had the brass to appear in a Court of Justice.-North : Examen.

It is said of an impudent person that his face has been “rubbed with a brass candlestick," or that he is as “bold as brass." “He died damned hard, and as bold as brass," an expression commonly used among the vulgar after returning from an execution.-George Parker: Dictionary of Cant.

(Popular), money generally.
But my brass all went to
Old Nick, and the rent too,
For I backed Sorrento-

No Sunday dinner.

-Bird o' Freedom. “It's no good being proper in this world," said the first housemaid. “Brass can do better than the gold what has stood the fire," said the second. - Dickens : Oliver Twist.

Brass bound and copper fastened

(nautical), a term applied to a midshipman when in uniform. Brasser (Blue Coat School), a

bully. Brass knocker, a phrase used

among professional beggars and tramps to signify the broken victuals, which they unwillingly receive instead of money, and commonly throw away on the

168

Brassy—Break.

roadside as soon as they are out of sight of the donors.

when you can't fill the bread-basket, shut it: go to sleep.-Reade : Never too late to Mend.

Brassy (popular), impudent.
No, Mister Gattle, Betty was too brassy,
We never keep a servant that is saucy.

-Wolcot: Peter Pindar.

Brazen-faced (common), impu

dent, shameless. See BRASS.

Bread, or hard tack (nautical),

biscuit. Bread being termed “soft tack.”

Bread-and-butter fashion (prosti

tutes), that is, one (slice) upon another. It was said of two persons caught in the act that “they were lying bread-andbutter fashion.”

Bread-and-butter warehouse (old

cant), Ranelagh Gardens was so called. See BREAD-AND-BUT. TER FASHION,

Bread-picker (Winchester), a nominal office, excusing the

holder from fagging. Bread-room (nautical), an old

term for stomach.

The waiter returned with a quartern of brandy, which Crowe . . . started into his bread-room at one cant.--Smollett: L. Greaves. Bread-room jack (nautical), pur

ser's steward help. Break (prison), a collection made

in aid of one awaiting trial or recently discharged. Literally, pause in street performance when the hat goes round.

The mob got me up a break (collection), and I got between five or six foont (sovereigns). ---Rev. J. Horsley : Jottings from Jail. Break or crack one's egg, to

(cricketers), to make one's first run, thus avoiding the “duck's

egg." Breaking the balls (billiards),

commencing the game. Breaking up of the spell, the

(thieves), explained by quotation. Vide SPELL.

The breaking up of the spell is the nightly termination of the performance at the Theatre Royal, which is regularly attended by pickpockets of the lower order, who exercise their vocation about the doors and avenues leading thereto, until the house is emptied and the crowd dispersed. Vaur's Memoirs.

Bread and meat (military), the

commissariat. Bread bags (army), those con.

nected with the victualling department. Formerly termed “muckers;" French soldiers

call them riz-pain-sel. Bread barge (nautical), the tray

in which biscuit is handed round.

Bread-basket (popular), the

stomach.

... The point of a sharp instrument driven right through, close to my knees, with the exclamation, “ What do you think of that now in a policeman's bread. basket?"-C, Kingsleyi Alton Locke.

Break o' day drum, a tavern

which is open all night.

Break—Brewer's horse.

169

Break out all over (American), a

common slang phrase, borrowed from the medical vocabulary. Thus if a man were in a great rage, it might be said that his wrath broke out all over him, or that he smiled from his feet to his eyes. In the following anecdote it is applied to an excessive development of piety.

““Get down the Bible, we're going to have family prayer.' 'Why! are you going to have family prayer before you have religion ?' she asked. Grigger said he wanted it and the minister said if he'd do before he got it as he thought he'd do after he got it he'd have it. Well, Grigger could not get the idea into his head. But Grigger stuck to it, and in a few weeks Grigger was the finest case of religion I ever saw. It broke out all over him."

Breast fleet (old slang), Roman

Catholics were once known by this name. So called from the practice of making the sign of

the cross on their breasts. Breeched (common), to be well

off. The French say of a bank. rupt that he is unbreeched, dé. culotté.

(Schoolboys), to be breeched, to be flogged. Breeches (colloquial), a wife who

usurps her husband's prerogative is said to “wear the breeches."

French, “porter la culotte." Breeze (common), a quarrel or

disturbance-generally “to kick up a breeze."

Break shins, to (common), to bor

row money. The French slang equivalent is “donner un coup de pied dans les jambes."

Break the molasses jug, to

(American), to make a mistake and come to grief. Right, dar's whar he broke his merlasses jug.–Uncle Remus.

Breezy (American), cool.

Not since the original enemy of mankind stood up and rebuked sin have we seen such an exhibition of what might be called breezy chic (pronounced in this instance cheek) as that exhibited by Carter Harrison, Mayor of Chicago, in coming to New York to give us points on municipal govern. ment.-New York World. Brekker (Oxford), breakfast. See

FOOTER. Brevet-wife (common), an unmar

ried woman, who is represented as married to the man with

whom she cohabits. Brew, to (Marlborough), to have

some refreshment in the afternoon at about four o'clock.

Break the neck of anything, to

(common), a phrase signifying that the greater portion of any task has been accomplished.

Breaky - leg (popular), strong drink. The French slang says of a man who has had too much drink that he has “une jambe de vin.” (Thieves), a shilling, from the expression “to break shins," which see.

Brewer's horse, old cant name

for a drunkard. A vulgar stanza on this subject was popular about a hundred years ago or more:

170

Brian—Brickfielder.

“I wish I were a brewer's horse

But six months of the year,
I'd take my fill of honest stuff,

And drink up all the beer.
When that was done, what should I do

My thirst to satisfy,
I'd eat up all the corks and bungs,

Give up the ghost and die."

apping the fire.

stest miserwme to all

Brian o' Linn (rhyming slang),

gin. Brick (colloquial), a term of com.

mendation applied to a particularly honest, good, jolly, brave, or spirited person.

Steerforth approved of him highly, and told us he was a brick.-Dickens: David Copperficid.

It is used sometimes with an adjective prefixed, as an “outand - out brick," a "regular brick.”

Another familiar word in the university slang is a "regular brick," that is, a jolly good fellow, and how the simile is logically deduced is amusing enough. A brick is " deep red," so a “deep read" man is a brick; a deep read man is in university phrase a "good man;" a good man is a jolly fellow with non-reading men, crgo a jolly fellow is a brick.-Hallberger's Illus. trated Magazine.

It is evident that the figurative sense of the word is in allusion to the shape of a brick. In English and other languages straightforwardness is always identified with squareness. “He answered you as square as a brick.” “He did it on the

Identified by Lieut.-Col Munday with the “southerly burster,” so called from the brickdusty feel of the grit with which the wind charges itself as it rolls up the storm.

In October 1848, as I find by my diary, I witnessed a fine instance of a nocturnal brickfielder. Awakened by the roaring of the wind I arose and looked out. It was bright moonlight, or it would have been bright but for the clouds of dust, which, impelled by a perfect hurricane, curled up from the earth and absolutely muffled the fair face of the planet. Pulverised speci. mens of every kind and colour of soil within two miles of Sydney, flew past the house high over the chimney tops in lurid whirl. winds, now white, now red. It had all the appearance of an American prairie fire, barring the fire. ...

One of the greatest miseries of the "southerly burster" is that (welcome to all animated nature as are its cooling airs) its first symptoms are the signal for a general rush of housemaids to shut hermetically every aperture of the dwelling. The ther. mometer in the drawing-room and one's own melting mood announce some 86° of heat, while the gale driving so refreshingly past your windo lower; but if you have any regard for sight and respiration, for carpets, chintz, books, and other furniture, you must religiously shut up shop until the chartered libertine, having scavengered the streets of every particle of dust, has moderated its wrath. Even then, however well fitted may be the doors and windows, the volatile atoms will find their way everywhere, to the utter disturbance of household and personal comfort. - Lieut.-Col. Munday: Our Antipodes.

The climate of Queensland is very hot. In summer the heat is Indian; and it is a moist, that is to say, an exhausting heat, whereas the summer temperature in other parts of Australia is comparatively dry; drier in South Australia and Victoria than in New South Wales, but when brick. fielders or dust storms are not blowing, endurable.- Daily Telegraph.

square."

Brickfielder or brickduster (Aus

tralian), a dust storm, a kind of whirlwind frequent in Australia during the summer time.

Brick in the hat (common), intoxi

cated, top-heavy. The derivation is obvious.

Bricklayer's clerk (nautical), a

contemptuous expression for lubberly people pretending to having seen better days, but who were forced to betake them. selves to sea life.

Bridge (card-sharpers), a cheating trick at cards, by which any particular card is cut by previously curving it. French cardsharpers term it “ faire le pont.” I've found out the way that Yankee fellow does the king. It's not the common bridge that everybody knows.-Charles Lever: Davenport Dunn.

To bridge a person or throw him over the bridge, is, in a gene. ral sense, to deceive him by betraying the confidence he has re. posed in you. In the game the confederates so play into each other's hands that the victim must inevitably be “thrown over the bridge.”

Brief is a survival of an old English term of common ecclesi. astical use in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In French bref, both from the Latin brevis. See rubric in the Prayer-book. Here briefs, citations, and excommunications are to be read. Briefs were circular letters issued by authority asking for charitable collections in all churches.

(Thieves), a ticket, pocket. book, pawnbroker's duplicate.

So I claimed (stole) them, . . . and guyed (ran) to the rattler (railway), and took a brief to London Bridge.-Rev. J. Horsley: Jottings from Jail.

“Take it from me," exclaimed the gentleman with the pink may twined round his hat, as he gracefully reclined on the seat of a third-class carriage in the Ascot “special," and leisurely sucked a piece of fried fish, “these 'ere six and sixpenny `rattlers' may be all right in their way, but give me a thirty-two-blow weekly brief! They goes at twice the bloomin' speed, an' you meets a different class o company!"-Bird o' Freedom. I have snatched at briefs, the property of

others, But the punishment was too much to

sustain. Oh send your boy a pound, thou best of

mothers; I'll refund it when the Gee-gees run again.

-When the Gec-gees Run Again. Briefs (cardsharpers), cards con

structed on a cheating principle. Like the German Briefe, which Baron Heinecken says was the name given to the cards manufactured at Ulm. Brief is also the synonym for a card in German slang, and briefen means to play at cards.

Bridle-cull (old cant), a highway.

man.

A booty of £10 looks as great in the eye of a bridle-cull, and gives as much real happiness to his fancy, as that of as many thousands to the statesman.-Fielding: Jonathan Wild.

Brief (prison), a note or letter.

“Just look what I've had sent me. An order to go over the Bank of Eng. land." ...

“Can't you alter the brief, to admit three?"

“Oh lor, no; wouldn't try it on; night queer the pitch before starting."-Bird o' Freedom.

Brief snatchers (thieves), pick

pockets who devote their attentions to pocket-books on race courses.

Brigh (thieves), pocket. Probably

from breeches, but closer in form to the Gaelic brigis, whence the French braies, breeches, and brayette or braguette, flap of breeches, which formed a con. venient receptacle for small articles when pockets had not superseded the pouch.

Bright (freemasons), an adjective

applied to well-instructed masons.

Bright in the eye (popular), a

mild state of intoxication.

Brim (old cant), a woman; (com

mon), a violent and irascible woman. Brim, a very old English word for angry or enraged, is supposed to be from the raging or roar of the sea. Anglo-Saxon

brim, surf, surge on the shore. She raved, she abused me, and splenetic

was; She's a vixen, she's a brim, zounds! she's all that is bad.

-Whim of the Day, 1799.

Bringing down the house (theatrical and journalistic), eliciting

thunders of applause. Bring on your bears! (American),

a common form of challenge. It is said that a small boy in the Far West, who lived in a place where bear-killing was a favourite amusement, was very much struck at hearing for the first time the story of Elisha read from the Bible. The next day, while in his log-cabin home, he saw approaching an old man on whose pate not a hair could be seen. He hastily took down his father's rifle and loaded it, sharpened the family bowieknife, and roared at the ancient passer-by, “Go up, thou Baldhead!” Then looking defiantly up to heaven he cried, “Now, bring on your bears /" The Chicago Tribune (September 13, 1886) heads a defiant article to England with this exclamation. Briny (popular), the sea. French

slang, “la grande salée."

He delights in collaring a greenhorn, and after pouring into his willing ears tales of unutterable woe and adventures undergone on the briny ...-H. Evans : The Brighton Beach Loafer. Brisket-beater (popular), a Roman

Catholic (Hotten). Brismelah (Anglo-Yiddish), the

ceremony of circumcision. Beris, a covenant; beris hamiloh, the covenant of circumcision.

The practice, however, of putting round the hat at brismclahs has fallen off considerably. At one place I knows of, where they haves a annual baby every Purim,

Brimstone (old cant), an aban

doned rogue, or prostitute; (common), a violent, irascible woman.

The brimstone swore I beat her husband, and so I paid for meddling.-- Johnston: Chrysal.

Confound the woman ... was there ever such an aggravating brimstone !-). Greenwood: Almost Lost.

Broach the claret, to (pugilistic). 'Twas not till the tenth round his claret

was broachd, But a pele in the smeller, too pretty

to shun, If the lad even could set it going like

fun,

- Tom Cribb's Memorial to Congress. Broad and shallow (popular), an

epithet applied to the so-called “ Broad Church," in contradistinction to the “ High” and

“Low" Churches (Hotten). Broad bottom. Explained by

quotation.

A coalition Government in the last century was known by the apt nickname of the Broad Bottom, Walpole, writing Mann in 1741, says: "The Tories declare against any further prosecution--if Tories there are, for now one hears of nothing but the Broad Bottom; it is the reigning cant word, and means the taking all parties and people indifferently into the Ministry.” -Cornhill Magazine.

Broads (popular and thieves),

cards.

“Yes, he was a red hot 'un," quoth the Horticulturist, “and at the broads he was unrivalled. But he played it too thick at Brighton that week."-Sporting Times.

He then took another business at Walworth, and got on well while he forswore the "infernal broads," as he called them. -). Greenwood : Tag, Rag, & Co. Broadsman (thieves), a card

sharper.

Broady (tailors), among East End

tailors broadcloth is so called. Also a general term for cloth. Gentlemen finding their own broady can be accommodated.--A Slang Advertise. ment.

“Broady workers are men who go round selling vile shoddy stuff under the pretence that it is excellent material, which has been got on the cross,' that is, 'stolen”" (Hotten).

(Thieves), broady, anything worth stealing.

Broad brim (common), originally

a Quaker, thus called from the peculiar hat worn by the “friends." Now used in reference to quiet, sedate men. A veteran correspondent, who inspired “The Druid " with many of his paragraphs,

Brock, to (Winchester), to bully.

Literally, to badger. From brock, a badger.

174

Brockster — Broomsticks.

Brolly (Winchester), a corruption

of umbrella. The term is used

also at the universities. I saw great Goshen stamping on the pave, I saw that famous man his brolly wave; I heard a naughty word, and I am free To own that that same word began with D.

- Funny Folks.

Brockster (Winchester), a bully. Brogan (American), coarse, strong

shoes. From brogues, coarse shoes, which, according to Kennett, are shoes made of rough hide used by the wild Irish.

Irish brog, a shoe. Broiled crow, to eat (Ameri.

can). A newspaper editor who is obliged by his party, or other outside influences, to advocate principles different from those which he supported a short time before, is said to eat broiled crow, more commonly “to eat

Broncho (American), wild or

savage, unruly. A Western term derived from the broncho or mus. tang, an unruly brute. "Oh! I don't know. He'd been singing the music to 'em" (imitating them). "Sam's too broncho." - F. Francis : Saddle and Mocassin.

crow."

Broke (common), hard - up, re

duced to one's last sou. There was a young plunger, who smartly Snapped up the big books about Martley;

Then came the fiasco,

And Ben cried " Carrasco !
I'm bested, broke, busted-or partly!"

--Bird o' Freedom. Broke her leg (American), said

of an unmarried woman who has had a child. In French theatrical slang, a lady who is enceinte “a mal au genou," the

result of a faux-pas. Broken. When a corporal at the

R. M. Academy is reduced for some irregularity or misconduct

he is said to be broken. Broken knees (popular), a woman

who has made a slip, or been seduced, is said to have broken knees. The Germans say she has “lost a shoe.” The analogy existing in each language between the phrase and the language of the stable is curious.

Broomstick (common), to be mar

ried “over the broomstick," to live as man and wife without being married. Young ladies had fain single women re

main, And unwedded dames to the last crack of

doom stick, Ere marry by taking a jump o'er a broomstick.

-Ingoldsby Legends. An allusion to a marriage ceremony performed by both parties jumping over a broomstick.

Broomsticks (thieves), insolvent

bail. Called also “queer-bail,” “ straw bail," “ Jew bail,” &c.

“Queer-bail are persons of no repute, hired to bail a prisoner in any bailable case. These men are to be had in London for a trifling sum, and are called broomsticks” (Vaux's Glossary).

To send the market either up or down, In aërated “Breads," Or “Shores,” or “Yanks,” or “Reds," In slang we really do it rather brown.

-Atkin : House Scraps. (Popular), to brown, to under. stand. “I can brown almost any poetry,” said George, “but not Browning."- Newspaper Story.

And when they ask me if I brown such language, I ne'er hear or read as to brown. ing: I'm done brown instead. - T. K. Symns : The Age of Betting.

Browns and whistlers (thieves),

explained by extract. “Browns and Whistlers are bad halfpence and farthings (it is a term used by coiners ”') (Vaux's Glossary).

Brosh (American), brittle. Dutch,

brós, frail, brittle. A New York

word. Brother-chip (popular), originally

fellow-carpenter. Almost general now as brother tradesman of

any kind. Brother smut (popular), used in

the phrase "ditto brother smut," equivalent to tu quoque. Sometimes“ ditto smut" when ad

dressed to a woman. Brother starling (old slang).

“ He's a brother starling of mine,” i.e. he cohabits with the same mistress and shares her

favours. Brown (popular), halfpenny. My father he is on the seas, my mother's

dead and gone, And I am here, on this here pier, to roam

the world alone; I have not had, this live-long day, one

drop to cheer my heart, Nor brown to buy a bit of bread with, let alone a tart.

-Ingoldsby Legends.
How much ha' we took to-day, Jim?

Why, not a single brown,
And our show was one o' the best
Once, and we rode from town to town.
- George R. Sims : Ballads of

Babylon. I took Parr's pills, which brought on premature old age; and here I am, as you sees, a wicktem to misfortune. My heart is busting for a buster, my mag is for a mag. So throw down your browns, kind. hearted Christians, and be done brown and "no mistake."-Diprose : Laugh and Learn.

Brown Bess (common), the old Government regulation musket. Soldiers of all nations are fond of giving names of persons to their weapons. The French troopers sometimes call their sword “Jacqueline,” and most of the siege guns during the siege of Paris in 1870 had been nicknamed in the same manner by the sailors who manned the forts, their favourite being a very large gun called “José. phine.” “To hug brown Bess," to serve as a private soldier. (Rhyming slang), yes.

(Common), to “do it brown,” to do well or completely. What with “cabbys" and with "wires," When anything transpires

Brown Bessie, an old word for a

woman of easy or uneasy virtue. Also black Bess.

Things proffered and easie to come by diminish themselves in reputation and price, for how full of pangs and dotage is a wayling lover, for it may bee some brown Bessie.--Dore's Polydoron, 1631.

176

Brown—Brummagen.

“ Bonny black Bess” was a very popular scandalous ballad a century ago.

Browny (thieves), a penny.

Dols. is brownies, as we call 'em some. times, that's pence. - Hamilton Aide : Morals and Mysteries.

Brown bill (old), the old weapon

of the English infantry.

Brown George (nautical), a hard

and coarse biscuit.

Brownie (whalers), the polar bear. Brown Janet (nautical), a knap

sack. Brown Joe (rhyming slang), no.

Brown papermen (popular), ex

plained by quotation.

But the little nick (a gambling-house) is what we call only brown papermen, low gambling, playing for pence, and a shil. ling being a great go.-Mayhew: London Labour and the London Poor.

Brown stone (American), beer.

Browse, to, to enjoy oneself, to

idle about, to loll in the sun. French faire son lézard. The expression is much used by gentlemen cadets of the Royal Military Academy. In the United States, to eat here and there, now and then, an ex

pression of Abraham Lincoln's. Bruiser (prison), the bully who

is a hanger-on of prostitutes.

The bruiser is the nearest approach to Dickens' hero, Bill Sykes. – Michael Davitt : Leaves from a Prison Diary.

(Common), a pugilist. (Pugilistic), a prize-fighter. (Popular), one fond of fighting.

C., who is known in the neighbourhood as a "great bruiser," pleaded that he made a mistake, and thought Conway was molesting the woman, who he also mistook for his wife. He goes to jail for six weeks. -Echo. Brum (Winchester), stingy, mean.

Probably an abbreviation of Brummagem. (Popular and thieves), a counterfeit coin. Also Birmingham. We have just touched for a rattling stake of sugar (large stake of money) at Brum. -Cornhill Magazine. Brumby (Australian), a wild horse. Brummagem (common), Birming

ham, applied to anything vulgar or counterfeit.

Those may be Brummagem or Man. chester manners, but they won't go down here. - Rhoda Broughton : Cometh up as a Flower.

Brown talk (common), conver

sation of an exceedingly proper character.

Brown typhus, brown titus, and

in America brown creeturs, an attempt at the pronunciation of bronchitis, or the names frequently given by the lower orders to that common disease. These misnomers are sometimes most amusing, as, for instance, a poor woman had been told she had myxædema, and informed a second medical man that her first doctor had said that she had got Nicodemus ; but, she added, he could not cure it.

Never let yourself be deceived by Brum. magem and paste.—Miss Thackeray: Old Kensington. He whipped out his Brummagem blade so

keen, And he made three slits in the buffalo's

hide, And all its contents, through the rents and

the vents, Come tumbling out, -and away they all hied !

-Ingoldsby Legends. Brummagem was originally spelled Bromidgham, and its first connection with anything spurious or sham came from the so-called Bromidgham groat, a counterfeit fourpenny piece. It was subsequently applied to a person who was neither Whig nor Tory (Halliwell).

Brummagem buttons (popular),

counterfeit coin. Want change for a fiver-bad silver, Brummagem buttons, won't do.- Dickens : Pickwick Papers. Brums (Stock Exchange), London

and North Western Railway

stock. We kneel at the feet of our “ Nancys," We load them with “cottons" and

"tapes," If anything tickles our fancy, We buy them Brums, “Caleys," or “Apes."

-Atkin : House Scraps. (Popular), the inhabitants of Birmingham. From "Brumma.

'uns at Four Oaks, when a Brum, whom he elbowed out of the way, remarked-

“Don't think you're heverybody because you make your coat hout o' the pore bloomink slavey's Sunday skirt."--Sport. ing Times. Brung (American), brought. A

writer on Americanisms is slightly mistaken in saying that white men use it as a “very mild joke." It is very often a stinging insult, and the writer has seen a man in Boston very angry because he was asked in jest, “Where were you brung up?” The insult was in the intimation that the man was familiar with or in the habit

of using such an expression. Brush (popular), a house-painter. Brush, to have a (old), to have

sexual intercourse, when applied

to women; also to run away. Brusher (old slang), a bumper.

“To drink a brusher” was to drink from a fullglass. (Schools), an abbreviation of “bum

brusher,” a schoolmaster. Brush up, to (American), to hum

bug or flatter, to smooth, conciliate. Brushing up a flat, “prancing,” flattering (New

York Slang Dictionary). Brydport dagger (old), explained

by quotation.

Stab'd with a Brydport dagger, that is, hang'd or executed at the gallowes; the best, if not the most, hemp (for the quantity of ground) growing about Brydport.Fuller: Dorset Worthies. Bub, bubby (American), a term very commonly applied to a

gem.

The Brums must really look to the morals of their town a little more. Modern Society.

Joe Capp is the most sensibly dressed man who goes racing. He wears a long, cool-looking alpaca surtout ; but it was rough on Joe, after losing fourteen thick

little boy. It came from Pennsylvania, where it was derived from the German bube, which is commonly abbreviated to bub. ""Bub,' he said to a little shaver coming out of the savings-bank with a book in his hand, "are you saving money?'

““Yes, sir.' "* How much have you got in the bank ?'

"Eight cents, sir. I did have thirteen, but father got in straitened financial circumstances and I had to draw five.'” Bub (thieves), strong malt liquor;

generally drink, Ay, bub and grubby, I say, Lots of gatter, quo' she, are flowing.

-W. Maginn : Vidocq's Slang Song. Also a brother.

Bubber (American), applied to

any woman (old or young) with full, well-rounded breasts, or bubbies, whence the term. Bubble-buff (old), a bailiff. Bubbley jock (popular), a turkey;

a stupid, boasting person. Bubbling squeak (army), hot soup.

Properly, bubble and squeak is a dish composed of pieces of cold boiled meat and greens, afterwards fried, which have thus first bubbled in the pot, and then hissed or squeaked in the

pan. Bubs, bubbies (common), a

woman's breasts. From bub, drink.

daim (literally buck), has been gradually superseded by"blood," “dandy," "maccaroni," "swell,” “Bond Street lounger," “ exquisite," "dude," and "masher."

(American, cards), a device for securing a good ante at poker or brag. The player whose turn it is to ante, instead of putting up money, puts up a knife, key, or any small article, saying, “I ante a buck worth $5," or whatever sum he chooses to name. If he has not won it back himself when he retires, he must redeem it from the possessor at the price named. The peculiarity of the buck is that whoever holds it must ante it when it comes to his turn. Whenever it is desired to bring the game to a close, a good finish is secured by agreeing to “chase the buck home," i.e., whoever wins it has the next deal, and consequently antes it. The game stops as soon as the buck has been won back by the player who originally started it.

(Cabdrivers), a sham “ fare" in a cab. A buck is a man who rides in a cab ostensibly as a legitimate fare, to enable the cabman to proceed to some destination to which he is not allowed to take an empty cab. Many of the semi - private thoroughfares of London are closed to empty cabs. Mr. —, on behalf of the United Cab Proprietors' Protection Association, said it often occurred that the men who were so conveyed were bucks--men who rode in

Buck. This almost obsolete word,

for what the French called a petit-maître, and more recently

a cab ostensibly as legitimate fares. In reality they acted in collusion with the driver to evade the police regulations, especially with regard to theatres.-Standard.

(Popular), a sixpence. The word is rarely used by itself, but as in the phrase, “ two and a buck.” More frequently “two and a kick.” Possibly from the gypsy bāk (pronounced buck), luck, as it is always asked for for luck.

(Old slang), to "run a buck," to poll a bad vote at an election. This phrase is of Irish origin.

(American), to buck is to butt against, to oppose.

Yer oughter be ershamed o' yerse'f ter porsecute 'ligion in dis way. W'y how de work o' de Lawd gwine ter prosper when de white folks bucks ergin it dis way? I'se sorry fur yer, fur old Satan got his eye on yer, sho.-Arkansaw Traveller.

To rear up, to jump like a buck, to jump and “ cavort." Applied to a peculiar leaping of Western horses. Dutch, boken maken, to cut capers; bokstavast, leap-frog.

The term is used also in South
Africa and Australia.
I don't think that we have a beast
About the place that bucks the least.

-D. B. W. Sladen : A Summer

Christmas.

tables, or clean out or gut the croupier.

I don't like your looks at all, I'd buck against any bank you ran all night.Bret Harte : Gabriel Conroy.

(Winchester College), “to buck down” is to be unhappy, whilst to “buck up” is to be glad.

(Anglo-Indian), to talk egotis. tically, to prate and chatter, to let one's tongue run loose. From the Hindu baknā. And then he bucks, with a quiet stubborn determination that would fill an American editor or an Under Secretary of State with despair. He belongs to the twelve foot tiger school, so perhaps he can't help it.-Ali Baba. Buck-bail (thieves), bail given by a

sharper for one of his own gang. Buck fitch (old), an old man of

abandoned habits, an old roué. A “buck face," an injured husband, alluding to the horns.

Buck or fight the tiger, to

(American), to gamble. Derived from the parti-coloured divisions or stripes on a gambling table.

This little oil town, on the line of the Olean, Bradford, and Warren Railroad, and partly in Pennsylvania and partly in New York, is the greatest poker-playing place in the entire northern oilfield. It is a town in which all the residents “buck the festive tiger." – Chicago Tribune.

(Banking), “to buck an account” is to make an account balance without carrying it out properly, i.e., to cook the accounts.

(Californian), in the Californian vernacular this signifies to play against the bank, as, e.g., in faro, that is, to sweep the

Buckeen (Irish), a bully, an in.

ferior sort of squire.

There were several squireens or little squires, a race of men who have suc. ceeded to the buckeens described by Young and Crumpe.- Miss Edgeworth : Absentee.

180

Bucket-Buckle-beggar.

Bucket (American), an anonymous

letter. (Common), to "give the bucket,” to dismiss, to dismiss from one's employ. He were sore put about because Hester had gi'en him the bucket.--Mrs. Gaskell : Sylvia's Lovers.

(University), to bucket is to scoop the water instead of pulling the oar steadily and fairly through.

(Popular), to bucket a person, to deceive, ruin him. To kick the bucket, to die. “Fine him a pot,” roared one, "for talking about kicking the bucket. He's a nice young man to keep a cove's spirits up, and talk about a short life and a merry one.'"-C. Kingsley : Alton Locke.

Dr. Brewer gives the follow. ing explanation: “A bucket is a pulley. ... When pigs are killed they are hung by their hind legs on a bucket . . . and oxen are hauled up by a pulley. ... To kick the bucket is to be hung on the bulk or bucket by the heels."

borne by broker establishments where “corners” are manipulated.

The latest story out to account for the recent strength in the wheat market, is to the effect that it is the result of a combined effort to “burst the bucket-shops."

(Stock Exchange), the office of an outside broker of doubtful character.

A disreputable gambling case which came before the Divisional Court yesterday is noteworthy for the remarks made on "the vice of gambling in stocks and shares" by two judges. A gambler had sued a firm of bucket-shop keepers for profits alleged to have been made on “certain transactions," and the latter coolly pleaded the statute against wagering and gaming in defence. - Pall Mall Gazette.

Buckhara (American), a California

name for a cattle driver. It is

the Spanish vaquero. Buckhorse (pugilistic). " A smart

blow or box on the ear; derived from the name of the celebrated bruiser'” (John Smith, alias Buckhorse, fought on the stage 1732-46), according to Hotten's Dictionary.

Bucket afloat (rhyming slang), a

coat.

Bucket-shop (American), a bucket

has in America several meanings, all indicating underhand or concealed dealings. The term is applied to low groggeries, and also to places which advertise as below cost flashy goods which are sold at a large profit. Low, swindling, gambling places, or lottery offices, also bear this name, and in Chicago it appears from the following extract to be

Buckle, to (Scottish), to marry,

a vulgarism used by D'Urfey in his imitation of a Scotch song, popular in the time of Charles II., “Within a mile of Edinburgh Toun." The phrase is still current in England among the lower classes, among whom to be “buckled "not only means to be married, but to be taken into custody.

Buckle-beggar (old), a man who

officiated as a clergyman to per

Budge (thieves), a thief; especially

one who sneaks into a shop and is locked in, thus getting a chance to admit an accomplice. Formerly a pickpocket. Probably from bouget, budge, budget, a sack, pouch, wallet. A drink.

Budge, the sneaking (old slang),

robbing private houses of light small articles, such as coats, hats, &c.; now called “area sneak” or “hall sneak." "Budge clothes,” lambs' fur formerly used for trimming the robes of Bachelors of Arts (Halliwell). Standing budge, a thief, scout, or spy.

Budger (thieves), a drunkard.

form the marriage ceremony in the Fleet Prison; also a hedgepriest, who performs the ceremony of marriage among tramps

and gypsies. Buckled (thieves), imprisoned.

French slang, bouclé. Why, I was buckled because I got drunk. It was a pure accident. Had I followed my usual work I should never have fallen. --Evening News. Buckler, a collar (New York Slang

Dictionary). Buckra yam (West Indian). As

in negro eyes “the white man," or buckra, is the synonym of something superior and beyond him in the scale of being, so the word has come to mean anything good. Thus buckra yam, good yam; buckra cloth, good cloth. A“swanga buckra” is a specially well-dressed white

man. Bucks (West Indian), the cogno

men of the aboriginal inhabi. tants of British Guiana — the

South American Indians. Bud (American), a “society” word

for young lady debutantes, or “come outers," in their first season.

There's nothing so beautiful to me as a beautiful girl. I doubt if any man can better understand or be more truly in love with the dear perfectness of nature than I am. O girls, do appreciate girls. At my last ball the kids (youths) were tearing around ... but even the shyest and greenest of buds knows that the admiration of the kid isn't worth having, it is so easy to get and as hard to get rid of.-Madge : Letter in the New York World.

Budgerow (Anglo-Indian). Hin

du, bujra. A heavy keelless barge, formerly much used by Europeans travelling on the Gangetic rivers (Anglo-Indian Glossary). The bujra broad, the bholia trim, Or pinnaces that gallant swim With favouring breeze, or dull or slow, Against the heady current go.

-H. H. Wilson in Bengal Annual.

Budging-ken (thieves), a public house, the “ cove of the budging-ken” being the landlord.

Budmash (Anglo-Indian), a bad,

worthless fellow; a scoundrel. Gamblers, cut-throats, budmashes of every description. — Bosworth Smith : Life of Lord Lawrence. Budzat (Anglo-Indian), from the

Persian badzat, evil race. A low

182

Buff-Buffle-headed.

fellow, a “bad lot,” a blackguard. Why the Shaitan (devil) didn't you come before, you lazy old budsart ? Anglo-Indian Glossary: The Dank Bun. galow.

Buff (tramps), among the tramping

fraternity a buff-ball is a dancing party, characterised by the indecency of those who attend it, the costume de rigueur being that of our first parents.

The most favourite entertainment at this place is known as “buff-ball,” in which both sexes-innocent of clothingmadly join, stimulated with raw whisky and the music of a fiddle and a tin whistle.

- James Greenwood: In Strange Com. pany.

(Old slang), to “stand buff," to bear the brunt, to pay the piper; also “to boast,” given as a very old word by “Batman uppon Bartholome,”

I'll merely observe as the water grew

rougher, The more my poor hero continued to

suffer, Till the sailors themselves cried in pity, Poor buffer!

-Ingoldsby Legends. Also a merry companion with a spice of the rogue in him, the Falstaff of a century ago. Buffer or buffard is a provincialism for a foolish fellow. In Dutch, boef or boefer, means, according to the Groot Wordenbock der Engelsche en Nederduytsche Jaalen of William Sewell, “a rogue, knave, or wag,” which is identical both in sound and meaning with the English word.

(Popular), a dog, from the old cant word bufe, a dog. (Old cant), a smuggler, a rogue, a cheat; also a dog. Buffernabber, a dog-stealer. (Nautical), buffer, a navy term for a boatswain's mate, one of whose duties it was to administer the “cat." From the obsolete English to buff, to strike. It has been suggested, however, that buffer is of Dutch origin. Teirlinck (Woordenbock van Bargoensch) gives baf, a blow; bajien, to strike with the fist, adding “Klanknabootsend idiot. isme van dagelijksch gebrink in Vlanderen.”

1582.

To buff, defined by Hotten as simply meaning to swear to; but the following, from the New York Slang Dictionary, gives the spirit of the word very accurately: “Buffing it home is swearing point-blank to any. thing, about the same as bluffing it, making a bold stand on no backing."

Buffer (common), a man, a fel.

low. But aged, slow, with stiff limbs, totter

ing much, And lungs that lacked the bellows.

mender's touch, Yet sprightly to the scratch both buf.

fers came. -- Tom Cribb's Memorial to Congress

Buffle-headed (popular), stupid

and stolid as a buffalo or ass. Synonymous with “pig-headed,” stupidly obstinate.

You know nothing, you buffle headed, stupid creature. – Wycherley: Plain Dealer.

instances: “He bug'd me a quid," i.e., he gave me a guinea ; “bug over the rag," i.e., hand

over the money. Bugaroch (American thieves),

pretty (New York Slang Diction

ary). Bug blinding (army), white-wash

ing, a process calculated to destroy, or at least to remove the superficial traces of vermin that are a perfect pest in the more antiquated barracks,

especially in warm climates. Bugging (American), taking

money from a thief by a policeman. This indicates the existence of an old word “bug" for money as well as valuables. In Dutch slang, bucht

is money. Buggy (old cant), a leather bottle.

It now signifies a gig or light

chaise. Bug hunter (thieves), a thief who

plunders drunken men.

Buffs (common), the 3rd regiment

of foot in the British army.

From their facings.
Buffy (common), intoxicated.

Flexor was fine and buffy when he came
home last night. Shirley Brooks: The
Gordian Knot.
Bug (American and English

thieves), a breast-pin; bugger, a pickpocket, or one who makes a specialty of snatching away breast-pins, studs, &c.; bughunter, the same. The chips, the fawneys, chatty-feeders, The bugs, the boungs, and well-filled readers.

-On the trail. i.e., The money, the rings, spoons, Breast-pins, purses, and well-filled

pocket-books. (American and older English), bug, which in England is now limited to the Cimex, politely termed a Norfolk Howard, is in America still applied to all varieties of the Coleoptera and many other insects.

"Oh, Fred, what's that ticking noise ? Do you think it's the death watch mamma was reading about before she put us to bed ?" "Bessie, don't be a little goose. It's only a bug, anyhow. Maybe it's not even a bug-only the bed-ticking."-Phila. delphia Call.

(Old slang), to bug, an old phrase in use at one time among journeymen hatters to signify the substitution of good material with inferior stuff. Bailiffs who accepted money to delay service of writs were also said “to bug

the writ.” Bug or bug over, to (thieves), to

deliver, give or hand over. Vaux

Bug juice (army), ginger ale.

In America applied to very bad whiskey.

Bugle it, to (American cadet), to abstain from attending class and reciting until the bugle sounds

for attention. Bug walk (popular), a bed. Build, to (or it) (American), said of a man who is slow to move, or of an affair which requires great exertion. It is taken from

a boy's trick of putting a coal under a tortoise to make it walk.

“I have a letter of introduction to Mr. Samuel Slump. Can you tell me if he is a man of drinking habits?” “Wall, stranger,” replied the citizen, expectorating copiously, “I wouldn't go so fur as to say that Sam is a hard drinker, but I reckon if you ask him to go an' take suthin , you won't have to build a fire under him to git him started."-American Newspaper.

(Nautical), to "build a chapel" is to turn a ship round through bad steering.

of a man who, being tried for shooting his neighbour, pleaded that he had only aimed at the bulge of his shirt where it “bagged out" above his trousers. “ To get the bulge" on a man, appears to mean to have the better of him. As bulge conveys the idea of swelling or inflation or expansion, it is much used to indicate magnitude or extravagance. Thus to go “bulging about” conveys the same idea as “splurging" (which see).

Building spots for sale (Ameri.

can), used of any imperfect per son or thing.

Built that way (common), “not

built that way," not in one's line.

Black Moustache addresses the divinity as “ Popsie," and she calls him “Bob." During the evening they have impromptu dancing. Smith can't dance; he isn't built that way, and Miss Jones says that Black Moustache u altzes delightfully. All of which means that the following week is one of agony for young S., who moodily meditates leaving England for ever, and straightway abjures the harmless necessary shave. --Bird • Freedom.

Bulgarian atrocity (Stock Ex

change), Varna and Rustchuk

Railway 3 per cent. obligations. And we've really quite a crew Or fancy names to represent a share .... But fancy, by the way, Now, in the present day, A Varna's a Bulgarian atrocity.

- Atkin : House Scraps. Bulge (American), properly to bulge is to swell out, and bulge is a swelling or belly. In the United States the words are extended and amplified in many ways. Thus there is a story

Bulger. This English word, signi

fying a large object or creature, is much more extensively used in the United States than in the mother-country. “New York is a bulger of a place,” said Colonel Crockett in 1835. At Princeton College (New Jersey) the largest and heaviest of the students is familiarly called bulger. The negro minstrel word bullgine, for a locomotive, ap. pears to be a compound, the first part of which is derived rather from bulge than “bull," as implying bigness. I got on board de telegraf an' floated

down de ribber, De 'lectric fluid magnified and killed five

hundred nigger. De bullgine burst, de steam went off, I

really tought I'd die; I shut my eyes to hold my breathSusanna don't you cry!

Song of O Susanna. Bulk and file (old), two thieves working together. The bulk jostles the victim against the file, who robs him of his money or watch.

Bulker (old cant), a street-walk

ing prostitute; from “bulk," that formerly signified the body. She must turn bulker (when her cloathes are worn out), at which trade I hope to see you suddenly.--Ravenscroft, 1670. Bulky (Winchester College), gene

rous, open-handed, as opposed

to “brum." Bull, now recognised and applied

to a blunder, formerly meant any kind of rough, blundering, or foolish jest or trick, and is of the same root with bully in its sense of a clown or merry-maker. Old Dutch bollaert (Skeat), “a jester or a gyber.” Swedish bulra, to make a noise. Buller in Anglo-Norman means an equivocator or deceiver, which unmistakably indicates the existence of bull in the modern

sense. The sexte case is of fals bullers, Baith that tham makes and that tham wers.

-MS. Cottan. Vespasian

(Halliwell). The term bull - calf itself (Shakspeare), and bull-finch, a stupid fellow (North Country), all indicate the association with blundering and stupidity which is implied by bull. The word was first specially identified with Hibernian mistakes by Miss Edgeworth in her “Essay on Irish Bulls." (Popular), a roaring horse.

(Popular and thieves), a crown, an abbreviation of its former appellation, a bull's eye. ... Then giv me a little money, four half bulls, wot you may call half-crowns, and ses, hook it !-Charles Dickens,

(Prison), rations of meat ; an uncomplimentary reference to the toughness of the beef supplied. The French slang has bidoche, for meat, from bidet, a pony.

(Stock Exchange), explained by first quotation.

Berliner is puzzled by the terms bull and “bear," that he often sees in the papers in connection with the Stock Exchange. ... These terms are as old as the time of the South Sea Bubble, 1710. A man who contracted to sell stock of which he was not possessed was called a “bear," in allusion to the proverb, “Selling the skin before you have caught the bear," and he who bought, without intending to receive the stock, was called a bull, by way of distinction. To bull the market is now to raise the price of stock when operating for a sale, while to “bear" it is to use every effort to depress the price of stock in order to buy it. So was the huntsman by the bear op

pressed, Whose hide he sold before he caught the beast.

- Tit Bits. A man was complaining that he had lost all his money through gambling on the Stock Exchange. A friend ventured to ask him if he had been a bull or a “bear"? and was told “Neither, I was an ass."Atkin : House Scraps.

(American thieves), a loco. motive.

... Had just touched a bloke's leather as the bull bellowed for the last time.On the Trail.

Bull and cow (rhyming slang), a

row.

Bull-dance (nautical), a dance

without women; also called a “stag.dance."

Bull-dog (university), one of the

duties of the university proctors is to promenade the town in search of offending undergraduates. Certain men, who are termed bull-dogs, accompany him. Their duty is to chase the offender, whose ingenuity in evading capture gives rise to many amusing stories. Many a long race too often ends in finding their prey is an outsider, whom they have no interest in catching

The proctor's satellites, vulgarly called bull-dogs.-Macmillan's Magasine.

I don't mean the college bull-dogs, they don't interfere with us, only with women. -H. Mayhew: London Labour and the London Poor.

(Old slang), a pistol, now a short thick revolver. “I have always a brace of bull-dogs about me." . .. So saying, he exhibited a very handsome, highly-finished, and richly mnounted pair of pistols. -Sir W. Scott: St. Ronan's Well.

Bull-doze, to (American), to com.

pel a person to do anything, or to influence his conduct by cruelty or brute force. It is derived from a Southern word meaning a whip or cowhide, or species of “kurbatch," made from the glans penis of a bull. It is said that negroes were whipped almost to death with this, or bull-dozed to make them vote the Democratic ticket. It is now extensively used in the United States, to express com. pulsion of any kind, especially

in politics. Bull-dozer (American), a revolver.

Used to mean a persuader, something to enforce an argument by personal violence. Vide

BULL-DOZE. Bullet (army), discharge upon

the spot, without a moment's notice.

(Printers), see DRY-UP, and Qur. According to Savage's “ Dictionary of the Art of Printing," 1841, a workman was said to have got the bullet when he was discharged instanterwithout the customary notice on either side.

(Nautical), the great gun which stands “housed " in the officers' wardroom cabin. General term for main-deck guns.

Bull-dog blazer (American), a

short thick revolver,

The manager laid down a large cane he had in his hand, and picked up instead a trusty buil-dog blaser, as he said

“Young man, I don't think you can be of any service to me, and you'd better slide."

“Assuredly; but you don't happen to have a shilling you could lend me?"

“No, I don't," and the manager cocked the revolver,

“Well, say ; let me into the show, will you?"--Green Room.

Bullets (cards), in American brag,

are aces; sometimes called white aces, in contradistinction to aces made up by holding braggers. The highest hand in the game is three white (or real) aces, the next highest is “two bullets and a bragger,” which cannot, of course, occur in the same round in which three real

Bullets—Bull's feathers.

187

aces are held, though another player may hold two other bullets and a bragger at the same time. Hence the expression “the serene confidence which a Christian feels in the three white aces."

Bullfinch (provincial), a corrup

tion of “bull fence," a stiff fence able to keep bulls out of or in a field.

The third fence was a teazer, an ugly bullfinch with a ditch on the landing side. ---Guy Livingstone.

Also a stupid fellow. Bulljine (nautical) a locomotive

is so called by sailors. Termed "bull" by American thieves.

Bullocky (Australian, upcountry),

a bullock-team driver. In the bush all the heavy hauling is done with bullock-drags. It is quite a common sight up the country to see teams of a dozen and upwards. Bullockirs in Australia are as proverbial as bargees or Billingsgate fishwives in England for the forcibleness of their language. “When you make Mokepilly," quoth one of the sunburnt bullocky men, “keep on by the brush fence, and that will take you right into the gap. Gee hup, Streaky; ya-hoy-ya, Strorb'ry."-T. C. Work: Australasian Printer's Keepsake. Bull party, an assembly, gather

ing, or dinner party of men

only. Bull puncher (American), a word

defined as follows by one who was himself of the calling :He followed the profession of a bull. puncher; that is, he went in charge of the cattle destined for slaughter and canning' in the distant North, and made money at it, being steady and trustworthy, and no drinker.-Morley Roberts : The Western Avernus. Bull's-eye villas (military), the

small open-air tents used by the volunteers at their annual rifle contest held on Wimbledon Common.

Bull-money, a vulgar phrase for money extorted by a chance witness from the man detected in the fields, the woods, the sea. shore, or other lonely place, in the act of carnal copulation.

Bullock's heart (printers), see

TOKEN. This is a term of contempt that pressmen apply to a single “token,” or order to print, of two hundred and fifty copies only, the lowest paying number in the scale of prices. This expression is due to the circumstance that it is not a “fat” but a “lean” job, hence the comparison to a bullock's heart, which, unless suffering from “fatty degeneration," is the essence of leanness.

Bull's feathers, horns. Todescribe

a man as wearing bull's feathers was to represent him as a cuckold.

Three crooked horns, smartly top-knotted with ribands; which being the ladies' wear, seem to intimate that they may very probably adorn, as well as bestow, the bull's feather.-Richardson : Clarissa Harlowe.

Bullock's horn (rhyming slang),

in pawn.

188

Bull's feathers—Bully.

The attribute of horns to a cuckold is of remote antiquity, and is supposed by symbolists of the school of Creuzer and Faber to be derived from the horns of cattle, also of the new moon, at which time festivals were beld in Assyria, where all women were in common, and men who were among the initiated bore the symbol and were compared tooxen. Horns as worn on the head were suggestive of feathers in a cap, hence bull's feathers (Charles G. Leland, U.S. Notes).

The French havea correspond. ing expression: “planter des plumes de boeuf." On me dit qu'elle est bien gente

Qu'elle est douce comme un agneau. Par ma foi ! j'ai peur que'mplante Plumes de bæuf à mon chapeau !

-Song. Bull the cask, to (nautical), to

pour hot water into an empty rum puncheon, and let it stand until it extracts the spirit from the wood. The mixture is drunk by sailors in default of something

stronger. Bull-traps, thieves or swindlers

who personate policemen (New

York Slang Dictionary). Bully (American), often applied

in a commendable sense by the vulgar; as, for instance, a bully fellow, a bully horse. Hope you had a pleasant nap, bully place for a nice quiet snooze.-Bret Harte: Poems and Prose.

The captain said she was a bully boat.Mark Twain: Roughing it.

“Now." said he, “Slick, my bully, I

think I see a smart chance of doin' a considerable stroke of business to Nova Scotia, in the smugglin' line.—Sam Slick.

Bully for you, for me, is a commendatory phrase.

That's bully, plenty bully for me. Just you gimme the hundred dollars.- Mark Twain : Tom Sawyer.

This word has two distinct meanings: (1.) A braggart, or a man who terrifies and threatens. (2.) The older form, still common, applied to any person or thing which is pre-eminently excellent, e.g., a bully horse, “that's bully.” The Bully Bottom of Shakspeare implies a compliment. In Dutch slang bol has the same meaning, a head, a leader; as one might say, the bully of the crowd. Also an intelligent person. “Boll, 'een man met eenen goeden kop. Bol van de kit, man, of meester van het huis,” i.e., “A man with a good head, the master of a house." The word came into Dutch as it did into German slang, from the German-Hebrew, bal meaning literally man, but always used to indicate a master, director, or superior.

(Common), a bully, a stone or lump of lead tied in the end of a handkerchief (New York Slang Dictionary).

(Football), a scrimmage. “Change!" was called, and after the first bully the ball was rushed down the ground to the chalk line of good calx, where a bully was formed, after which it was walked into calx and five shies obtained before time was called. - Sporting Life.

Bully-beef (army), tinned meat; supposed to be made of old bull. The “iron ration,” as it is often called, either from its toughness, or the cases of tin or other metal in which it is preserved. (Nautical), boiled beef.

Bully-boss (American), the land

lord of a sporting crib, tavern, or brothel. Derived in all probability from bully and boss, but also agreeing remarkably, though by chance, with the baal habos, or “master of the house" of the Jews, which is commoner as bal bos; hence the Dutch thieves' slang, balleboo (bāūs), head man of any kind. This is a very curious instance of words of similar forms derived from radically different sources.

The C. C. Well, he's blowing her up; “Look 'ere, Matilda," he sez, “I'm 'anged if they 'aven't bin and let the Throne-room fire out again !" And she sez, “ It's no use bullyraggin' me, Billiam; speak to the Lord 'Igh Chamberlain about it-it's 'is business."-Punch.

From the Dutch bulder-ar, a blusterer ; bulderaren, to rage, to bluster, to roar; bulderarig, blustering, and raak, hitting.

Bully-rook or rock, a braggart, occurs in Shakspeare, where it is certainly of Dutch origin, e.g., buller-brook, a boisterous fellow. Bulbra, Swedish, to make a noise.

Bully-trap, a trap for bullies and

blackguards; applied to a man of mild and gentlemanly appearance and demeanour, who, if attacked by a bully, shows unexpected spirit, courage, and determination, and proves more than a match for his assailant.

Bully-buck (old slang), a man re

tained by the keepers of brothels, being paid by them to assist in enforcing exorbitant demands on those frequenting such places. Sometimes it was pretended that they were the husbands of some of the inmates, in order by threats of exposure to extort money from simpletons supposed to have been discovered in flagrante delicto.

Bum (public schools), a birching ;

termed also a belting. (Army), “cherry bums," the hussars, the allusion being obvious. The French chasseurs go by the nickname of culs rouges.

(Obsolete), bum or“ bummy," a contraction of bum bailiff. Thus called because he follows the man he has to serve with process. Here lies John Trull, by trade a bum ;

When he died

The Devil cried,
“Come, John, come.”

To bum, to arrest a debtor.

The word, according to Blackstone, is a corruption of “bound”

Bully-cock (old slang), a man

who, for the purposes of robbery and theft, fomented a quarrel between people, to cloak his nefarious designs.

Bullyrag (American and English),

to abuse, revile, or scold vehemently,

bailiff ; but this has been denied, as bum bailiffs are no more “bound” than other officers of the law to do justice. Todd quotes passages to prove that it arose from the pursuer catching hold of a man by the tail or

hinder part of his garment, Bumble (common), a beadle, from

Dickens' character in “Oliver
Twist."

Keate, and Arnold in more mo. dern times. In the Glossary to the “Life and Adventures of Bampfylde Moore Carew" it is said that the word “flaybottom” is bestowed upon a flogging pedagogue. It has been suggested that the word is a pun, and a corruption of phlebotomus, letting blood, but the word itself gives evidence of its more

humble origin. Bum-charter (thieves), hot bread

and water.

Bum-charter is a name given to bread steeped in hot water by the first unfortunate inhabitants of the English Bastile, where this miserable fare was their daily breakfast, each man receiving with his scanty portion of bread a quart of boiled water from the cook's coppers.--Vaur's Memoirs.

Bumble-crew (journalistic), cor

poration.

Then spake the chairman to the ratepayers :

The shindy of to-day exposes all
The apish antics of a bumble crew,
The worst this town containeth.

-Punch.

Bumchik (provincial), inferior

beer for harvest labourers. Bum-curtain (University), short

or ragged academical gown.

Bumbo (old), brandy, water, and

sugar; also a negro term for

the private parts of a woman. Bum - brusher, an opprobrious

name for a schoolmaster.

Dionysius was forced to turn bum. brusher in my own defence, a condition which best suited with a man that delighted in tyranny and blood.-T. Brown : Works.

Derived from the too common practice of pedagogues who flog boys with or without reason. The historical bumbrushers date from the days of James I. of England and VI. of Scotland—whose tutor, Buchanan, had no greater respect for his royal person than for that of other boys, except on the infrequent occasions when he flogged him vicariously-and from Drs. Busby,

Bumf (schoolboys), paper; an ab

breviation of "bum-fodder.” A

bumf-hunt is a paper-chase. Bum-fidget (old), a restless, un

easy person who cannot sit still.

Bumkin, or bumpkin, a stupid

lout, or rustic. From Old Dutch boomken, a tree or log. Since the English term also signified a thick piece of wood, it was readily applied to a blockhead. In French, bûche, a log, has also the signification of blockhead.

ping of a cork, or the bung of a barrel ; lost, gone. In this case the title of the “Queen's Fund” has been sufficient to damn what otherwise, beyond doubt, would have been a widely beneficial charity. It cannot be thought, however, that the Queen herself will be consumed with sorrow even if she does happen to hear that this abortion has "gene bung:"-dustralian Journal.

(Pugilistic) to give, pass, hand over; “bung over the rag,” hand over the note. (Popular), in a public-house game called "cod 'em,” when one of the opposite party suspects the piece to be in any particular hand, he places his own over it and exclaims “bung it here,” i.e., give it up.

Bunged peeper (common), an eye

closed by a blow.

There is, I think, no natural connection between the bung of a barrel and an eye which has been closed by a blow. But when we reflect on the constant mingling of gypsies with prize-fighters, it is almost evident that bongo may have been the origin of it. A bongo yakko (or yak), means a distorted, crooked, or in fact a bunged eye. It also means lame, crooked, or sinister.-The English Gypsies and their Language.

To bung is good English for to close up. Bung-juice (thieves), porter or

beer (New York Slang Dic

tionary). Bunk (American), a wooden case

or bench “which serves for a seat by day and a bed by night" (Bartlett). In America denotes generally a rough bed or place for sleeping. Dutch, “slaap

būnk," a settle-bed, or pressbed. American, “ to bunk.” ... And so pass over the rest of his voyage by saying that he was confined to his bunk, and saw no more of it.-H. Kingsley: Ravenshoe. Bunker (popular), beer. (Ameri.

can), large, fine, remarkable. East of England, bonker. This word suggests a possible origin

of Buncombe. Bunko, bunco (American), from

the Italian banco, a bench or bank. A game at cards, like three-card monte, and is usually simply a swindle. It is described by Inspector Byrnes, Chief of Detectives in New York, substantially as follows. It is apparently so simple and honest that the shrewdest men are readily induced to try it, and are thus fleeced. There are forty-three spaces upon a bunko “lay out,” forty-two are numbered, and thirteen contain stars also (no prizes), one is blank, and the remaining twenty-nine represent prizes ranging from two to five thousand dollars. The game can be played with dice or cards. The latter are numbered with a series of small numbers ranging from one to six, eight of which are drawn and counted, and the total represents the number of the prize drawn. Should the victim draw a star number he is allowed the privilege of drawing again by putting up a small amount of money. He is generally allowed to win at first, and later

You will see within a week if this is anything more than a bunon.-Oakfield, ii. 58. Bun-struggle or worry (army),

a tea meeting; an entertainment to which benevolent souls occasionally invite the soldiers in a garrison, but which has generally smaller attractions for them than the canteen or public. house.

on the game owes him from $1000 to $5000 (i.e., from £200 to £1000). This is when he draws the conditional prize, No. 27. The conditions are that he must put up $500 (£100), or as much as the dealer thinks he will stand. This is explained to him as necessary to save what he has already won, and to entitle him to another drawing. To inveigle men to play bunko, the most extraordinary pains are taken, and the bunko-steerers or“ touts,” who seek for victims, are selected from the most gentlemanly-looking, well-educated persons that can be found. There are innumerable instances of lawyers and others, who knew the world well, and who were perfectly on their guard as to bunko, being taken in by it, and half ruined. Its extraordinary vogue in the United States justifies this detailed description of it, as præmonitus, præmunitus. The writer is well acquainted with an English gentleman who, while travelling in the United States, was “bunkoed” out of several thousand dollars.

Bunt (common), an apron, properly

sail canvas; to bunt, to jostle. Bunter (common), a street-walking

thief, a prostitute. Bunts. See BUNCE. Burick (Australian convicts'slang),

a whore. Introduced into Australia by the convicts transported thither.

Burick is a prostitute, or common woman.-Vaux's Memoirs. Burking (army), dyeing the mous

tache and whiskers. It was at one time the custom for the whole of the men in smart cavalry regiments to dye their moustaches, &c., black, to burke or suppress their natural colour. This was for the sake of uniformity. Fashion in hair has always been a feature in military life. As in the past each corps prided itself on its own peculiar arrangement of pigtail and powder, so now there are regi. ments in which public opinion demands a hard and fast rule about hair. Few will tolerate whiskers; Piccadilly weepers, Dundrearies, as they were once

Bunkum. See BUNCOMBE.

Bunny grub (Cheltenham College),

green vegetables, called “grass” at the Royal Military Academy.

Bunon (Anglo-Indian), applied to

any humbug, “anything fictitious or factitious," a cram, a shave, a sham (Anglo-Indian Glossary).

called, are universally despised; and where the beard is permitted to be worn, as in India, its dimensions and trimming are often the subject of precise regulations. Burking meant formerly to stifle, from Burke, who was hung in 1829 for murder by suffocation of persons whose bodies he sold to surgeons

for dissecting. Burn (thieves), cheat; burners,

swindlers with dice and cards; burnt, infected with venereal disease (New York Slang Dic

tionary). Burner (old slang), an acute form

of a certain stage of a contagious

disease. Burr, to (Marlborough College),

to fight. Burra-beebee (Anglo-Indian), a

great lady, a grande dame, a lady-swell. (Gypsy), bāro beebee.

This is a kind of slang word applied in Anglo-Indian society to the lady who claims precedence at a party.-Anglo-Indian Glossary.

The ladies carry their burra bibi-ship into the steamers when they go to England. My friend endeavoured in vain to persuade them that whatever their social importance in the City of Palaces, they would be but small folk in London.Viscountess Falkland: Chow-Chow.

Burst (sporting), lively pace, smart

race, spurt.

During “a good burst" one of the hunt lost both "sight and sound" of the pack, and riding along almost disconsolate over. took a “ yokel," and at once asked him if he had seen the “hare and hounds."

“Ees, zir, I seed a dog chasing a hare." “Which way were they going?"

“Ah, zir, I can't tell 'ee that; all I could see was the dog was having the best of it.” -Sporting Times. Burying (old cant), “burying a

wife” signifies the feast given by an apprentice on the completion of his term of apprenticeship, and becoming a free man, to set up in business for himself. (Common), “buryinya moll,” for

saking a wife or mistress. Bus (common), abbreviation of

omnibus. An experiment was recently made of a female omnibus conductor on the new line between Piccadilly Circus and King's Cross. She only lasted a day. Most probably she met with an offer of marriage and closed her connection with one bus to get another as legitimate.-London Court Journal,

(Theatrical), contraction of “ business.” Pronounced biz. The dramatic action of a play is described in all written parts as bus. The dumb show described in Hamlet is all biz. Biz is also applied to the commercial affairs of the theatre. as “good biz” or “bad biz." (Anglo-Indian),bus / “Enough!” “ Hold hard !” “Stop there!” “ That will do!” “Hold your

horses !" Bushed (up country Australian),

lost in the bush or uncleared

Burra khana (Anglo-Indian), a

grand feast, a big dinner. In English gypsy, bāro habben,

from the same Indian roots. Burra sahib (Anglo-Indian), the

chief, or head, or master. A great man.

country primarily, and hence bewildered.

Desmard was on these occasions always accompanied by one of the boys, for John feared that he might get bushed; but he himself and the other boy went separately. -A. C. Grant: Bush Life in Queens. land.

(Common), “bushed on," much pleased. “I am awfully bushed on," that takes my fancy.

(Old slang), applied to a poor man without money. "He's completely bushed," i.e., desti

tute. Bushel, to (American), to repair

garments. German büszen, to mend, hence “busheler," a tailor's assistant, whose busi. ness it is to repair garments (Bartlett).

The success of one of these pieces de. pends not upon verbal joking, good or bad, but upon business.-Saturday Review.

Playing well or ill, according to the mood in which she may happen to be, an actress of Madame Bernhardt's trempe naturally varies her business.— Times.

(Singers), singing professionally.

She began her business in a deep sweet voice.---Thackeray: History of Pendennis.

(American), “the businc88end,"the end of any object which is put to practical use. The business-end of a mule is his heels.

If, on an occasion of this nature, one stationed himself behind the door, and, as a sort of preliminary warning to the others, greeted the first interloper with the business-end of a boot.jack, he would be morally certain of a lively one-sided misunderstand. ing that might end disastrously to himself. -). Stevens : Around the World on a Bicycle. Busk, busking (trade), explained

by quotation.

They obtain a livelihood by busking, as it is termed, or, in other words, by offering these goods for sale only at the bars or in the tap-rooms and parlours of taverns.H. Mayhew: London Labour and the London Poor.

From a furniture carter of this description I received some most shocking details of having to busk it, as this talking about goods for sale is called by those in the trade.-H. Mayhew: London Labour and the London Poor.

(Low actors), getting one's living on the road, by recitations in tap-rooms, &c.; probably from buskin.

Busking is going into public-houses and playing and singing and dancing.--H. Mayhew: London Labour and the London Poor.

(Tramps), singing.

Bushel-bubby (old slang), a large

and full-breasted woman.

Bushwhackers (West Indian), men who squat alive in the “bush,” leading an idle, useless existence,

(American), during the Civil War guerillas or irregulars were called “bushwhackers.” To “bushwhack" a boat is to draw it along by seizing the bushes on the banks. Bushy park (rhyming slang), a

lark. “A man who is poor is said to be in bushy park,' or

‘in the park'"(Vaux's Memoirs). Business (theatrical), the move

ments of the actors, their look and tone.

Buskers (popular), men who go

about performing, singing, or playing in a low way in the

streets or in public-houses. Then Mary Jones happened to meet A tumbler whose real name was simply

John Brown, While slanging one day in the street. His form so attractive, his figure so neat, So unlike common buskers was he, So pleasing his tricks she enchanted be.

came, And soon forgot all about me.

-). Lloyd: The Flying Lady. Buss, to (American), to punch,

probably from “burst.” “I'll buss your head” is a common

threat. Bust (thieves), a burglary.

“Fatty Bill, from City Road, rem. for a bust ex. 2 years," means that William ... has been compelled to leave his congenial haunts in the City Road as he is remanded for a burglary, and anticipates two years' hard Jabour.-Rev. J. W. Horsley : Jottings from Jail.

(Royal Military Academy), to go on the bust, to go to town for amusement.

(American), a burst, a frolic, a debauch, a spree. The reference in the following paragraph is to an American Minister to Mexico, who was said to have indulged in a bust of unwonted magnitude.

An article has appeared recently upon “Busts of the Vice-Presidents." Something upon the busts of Foreign Ministers would possess more of current interest. Omaha Herald.

(Thieves), to bust, to inform, to “split;" to commit a burglary. (American), to destroy.

They was by this time ined by a large crowd of other Southern patrits, who

comenst hollerin, “Hang the bald-headed
aberlitionist, and bust up his immoral ex.
hibition !"-Artemus Ward.
Buster (popular), a small new

loaf, termed also "burster;" a
"penny-worth of bees-wax and
a penny buster,” ¿.e., bread and
cheese.
I can't get at it, I can't get at it,

I like the faggots tho' they smell.
But now the penny's down the well,

I can't get at it, I can't get at it.
I thought I'd have a buster but it's all
no go!

-Song. (American), anything large in size, a drinking bout, a man of great strength.

He tackled some of their regular busters and they throwed him.-Mark Twain : Dry Diggings.

(Australian), southerly buster, southerly wind of great violence.

(Thieves), a burglar.

(Common), anything large, of extra size; a spurt.

At frequent intervals during the day, the cattle, animated by a sudden impulse, broke back and made a determined charge through the drivers, with their heads turned homewards. Whenever this took place, the overseer, after turning them round, gave the mob a buster at a severe pace during the next half-hour to take the wind out of them.-Nichols : Wild Life and Adventure in the Australian Bush. Wot odds arter all? We're jest dittos: I'm

not bad at bottom, sez you. Well, thank ye for nothink, my joker. As

long as I've bullion to blue, I mean to romp round a rare buster, lark,

lap, take the pick of the fun, And, bottom or top, good or bad, keep my heye on one mark--Number One!

-Punch. Bustle, a dress-improver, the pro

tuberance behind on a woman's

dress. Before 1855 and 1856 ladies had begun to wear crinoline and skeleton skirts. Then came the bustle, an artificial appendage intended to produce the impression that the wearer had a full glute x maximus or séant. Of late it has assumed enormous dimensions, far surpassing anything characteristic of the most fully developed Hottentot Venus. "Nothing has outstripped the bustle in its gigantic strife for prodigious excellence. It is remarkable that this form of fashion, which has never been literally to the front, has still left all other rivals behind. ... We can recall when this startlingly repro. ductive fruit received the distinct impetus which has borne it through successive stages to the present extraordinary condi. tion of development." (The writer here displays great knowledge in proving that it was the use of bustles during the Ameri. can war, as places for concealing valu. ables, which led to their increase in the United States.) “At this crisis the bustle played a historic part. It became a safe deposit vault for imperilled jewellery and plate.

“When the bustle shall have been de. veloped to its probable limit, the lady who wears one will certainly escape recogni. tion, if not observation. Our attention was lately called to a bustle of the pneumatic species. This is a graft of the bulb variety, and is filled with atmospheric oxygen, and it was propelling a young lady before it, much as a perambulator is advanced by a nurse. This bustle was the admiration that day of the entire city of Augusta. She wore a terra cotta chimney. pot hat, and what with the pneumatic bustle, the beautiful creature closely resem. bled a rural summer cottage with a stoveflue fixed at one end."-History of the Bustle : Greensboro (Ga.) Home Journal.

(Popular), money.

To bustle, to tie up into bundles or to make bunches.

Butcha (Anglo-Indian), the young

of any animal. Butcher, the (American), a boy

who is allowed to pass through the line of “cars" or carriages on a railway for the purpose of selling a great variety of articles. He is generally considered, to judge by the tenor of the remarks and anecdotes in the newspapers, as an intolerable annoy. ance. He leaves with every passenger, nolens volens, newspapers, books, sweets, fruit, toys, &c., all of which must be carefully guarded, or returned if not purchased, under the penalty of incurring that unlimited “sass” in which youths of his class are generally so proficient. The following incident, from the Detroit Free Press, gives a faithful picture of the temptations offered by the butcher :On a Michigan central train the other day as the butcher came into the car with a basket of oranges, an old man, whose wife sat beside him, was very anxious to buy half-a-dozen, but she waved the boy on with, “He can't have em. He never eats one without the juice runs down on his shirt bosom."

(Common), the king at cards, called un bauf in French slang.

(Prison), the butcher is a nickname for the doctor. Other. wise termed “sawbones, “croaker."

Butcher's mourning—Button-buster.

201

Butcher's mourning (popular), a

white hat with a mourning

band. Butler-English (Anglo-Indian), a kind of pidgin-English spoken

in the Madras Presidency. Butteker, a shop, from the Italian

bottega. A curious variation of this word is “butter-ken,"

Gypsy, būtteka or boodika. Butter, to (common), to praise a

person too flagrantly; "to pass the butter boat," is to indulge at public dinners in laudatory toasts of the prominent or distinguished persons who are present. The phrase has its coun. terpart in the Scottish proverb, “ Claw me and I'll claw you." From clire, to praise, and signi. fying “ Praise me and I'll praise you.” The English proverb, “Fine words butter no parsnips,” took its rise in a kindred idea.

I'll butter him, trust me. Nothing comforts a poor beggar like a bit of praise when he is down.-C. Kingsley: Two Years Ago. Butter a bet, to (old slang), to

increase it by twice or thrice its

first amount. Butter fingers (cricketers), an epi

thet applied to a “ fielder" who does not hold a ball which he ought to catch.

You jade! I'll ravish you! You but. tock! I'm a justice of the peace, sirrah! -Soldier's Fortune, 1681. The bands and the buttocks that lived

there around, Came flocking hither.

-Poor Robin, 1694. Wi' ruefu' face an' signs of grace,

I paid the buttock hire ; The night was dark, and through the park I couldna but convoy her

-Robert Burns : On the Cuttie Stool. Buttock and file (old cant), a shop

lifter.

The same capacity which qualifies a mill-ben, a bridle-cull, or a buttock and file to arrive at any degree of eminence in his profession would likewise raise a man in what the world esteems a more honourable calling.-Fielding : Jonathan Wild. Buttock and tongue (old slang),

a scolding, shrewish wife. Buttock-ball (old slang), cohabita

tion. Buttock-broker (old slang), a pro

curess, and in society a match

making woman. Buttocking-shop (common), a

brothel. The corresponding expression in the French slang is magasin de fesses. Button (old cant), a shilling, now

a bad one. (Streets), a decoy sham purchaser.

The Cheap Johns have a man or a boy to look after the horse ... and sometimes at a fair to hawk or act as a button (decoy) to purchase the first lot of goods put up.-H. Mayhew: London Labour and the London Poor. Button-buster (theatrical), a really

humorous low comedian, one who excites the risible faculties so strongly that the auditors

laugh until they burst their buttons. Buttoner (card-sharpers), a con

federate who entices“ pigeons"

into playing. Button on (printers), see PAN

ON and CHOPPER ON. An expression frequently used by printers, equivalent to “making buttons," " fit of the blues," or “ down in the dumps."

Button pound (provincial), money,

literally money that can be

pocketed. Buttons (common), a page.

Our present girl is an awful slowcoach ; but we hope some day to sport buttons.E. B. Ramsay: Reminiscences of Scottish Life and Character. Button up, to (Stock Exchange,

American). When in a falling market a broker has made an unprofitable purchase, and keeps the matter secret, he is said to

button up. Butty (Cheap Jacks), a partner.

(Provincial), a companion or partner in a piece of contract work. A butty collier is one who contracts with the mine owner to raise the coal at so much per ton, employing other men to do the actual work. The word is from the gipsy dialect. A“ booty pal" is a fellowworkman, literally a "work brother." In the mouths of navvies or rough workmen "pal" would soon be dropped, and butty would represent the original phrase. Eliezer Edwards : Words, Facts, and Phrases.

(Army), comrade, chum. (Popular), a policeman's assistant.

Buy a prop (Stock Exchange), a

recommendation signifying that the market is flat and there is

nobody to support it. Buy his time, to (American).

Before the war slaves often bought themselves free by instalments, paying down so much money at a stated time. When, for instance, a slave had thus paid half the money, half of his time would be his own. It happened thus that a man of colour who was half redeemed fell into a flood and narrowly escaped drowning. On being asked what his thoughts were on finding himself so near death, he replied that he couldn't help thinking what a fool a man was to risk money “in such unsarten property as niggers.” Many negroes also hired their own time, paying so much per day or week for it, trusting to earn more. Buz or buzz, to (common), to

share equally what remains in a bottle, or to pour out the last drops from a decanter. Get some more port, whilst I buzz this bottle here.-Thackeray: Vanity Fair.

(American, according to Bartlett, but quite as much English), to pick pockets while engaging a victim in conversation, or while a confederate does so, i.e., while “buzzing" to him. Scores of other visitors know to their loss how they were buzzed. The Plunger had his note-case, containing over £200 in notes, extracted from his fob.-Bird o Freedom.

Buz in thieves' slang was ori. ginally to whisper; it is now common in the sense of talking confidentially or earnestly to anybody. “I saw you talking to Blank on the corner over there." “Yes."

Buzzing you to vote for him ?” "Yes." “But you can't do it." "No." “And you told him so ?” “Well, not right away." “What were you waiting for?"

“Why. I didn't tell him so until I had asked for the loan of $5, and he said he didn't have it."-Detroit Free Press.

(Popular), to talk, to make a speech. Old bottle-blue bussed for a bit, And a sniffy young Wiscount in barnacles,

landed wot 'e thought a' it. ---Punch. Buz-bloke (thieves), a pickpocket. Buz - cove (Australian convicts'

slang), most likely taken out to Australia by the convicts transported thither.

Vaux, in his “Memoirs of Convict Life in Australia," says: “ Buz-cove or .buz-gloak,' a pickpocket; a person who is clever at this practice is said to be

a 'good buz.'” Buz-man (thieves), a thief; an

informer. Buznapper (old slang), a con.

stable, one who "knaps" or takes "buzzers” or pickpockets. Also

a young pickpocket. Buznapper's academy, a school

in which young thieves were trained. Figures were dressed up and experienced tutors stood

in various difficult attitudes for the boys to practise upon. When clever enough they were sent on the streets. Dickens gives full particulars of this old style of business in “Oliver Twist”

(Hotten). Buznapper's kinchin (old cant),

a watchman. Buzzard (American), an oppres

sive, arrogant person, jealous of rivalry, and vindictive. The Wiggins alluded to in the following paragraph is a celebrated though not very successful American weather-prophet.

Wiggins pronounces Professor Proctor "a buzzard among scientists, devouring every young man whom he finds making any pretensions.” If he can succeed in eliminating the pretentious Wiggins, the country will rise up as one man and call him blessed.-Chicago Tribune. Buzzard dollar (American), SO

called from the eagle on it, which captious critics think looks like a turkey-buzzard.

The waiters all expect something from you. They are very cunning, and always bring plenty of small change, so that if one is inclined to give he can find no excuse. They will take anything you give them, from a nickel up to a buzzard dollar, and look happy. --Chicago Tribune. Buzzer (thieves), a pickpocket. Buzz-gloak (old), a pickpocket.

He who surreptitiously accumulates bustle is, in fact, nothing better than a buss-gloak. — Lord Lytton: Paul Clif. ford. By-chop (old), an illegitimate

child. By George ! a vulgar ejaculation. By golly! a mild oath.

204

By gum—Cabbage-tree.

By gum! (American), a mild oath.
One night she was gone, by gum !

But as soon as ever I missed her,
From the king, for a glass of rum,
I bought her younger sister.

- The Ballad of William Duff.

By Jingo! (common), an exclama

tion denoting surprise, indigna

tion, defiance. Vide JINGO. By the wind (nautical), hard up,

in pecuniary need.

CAB (common), a brothel. The

term arises from the fact that four - wheeled cabs are some. times used for certain purposes.

The French argot describes a four-wheeled cab as bordel ambulant.

(University), explained by quotation.

Those who can't afford a coach, get a cab, alias a crib, alias a translation.C. Bede: Verdant Green.

(Tinker), a cabbage. Cabbage(tailors and dressmakers).

This is given as a cant word for private theft by dictionaries of the beginning of the nineteenth century, but it is used now in a slangy sense only in reference to the purloining by tailors of pieces of cloth. Did any one ever yet hear of a working tailor who was proof against misappropria. tion of his neighbour's goods, or, as he playfully designates it, cabbage? Is it not a standard joke in the trade this cabbage ? Did one ever hear of a tailor being shunned by his fellow-workmen, or avoided by his neighbours, on account of his predilection for cabbage? Yet what is it but another word for “theft"?-). Greenwood : Seven Curses of London.

Formerly carbage.

Lupez for the outside of his suite has

paide; But, for his heart, he cannot have it

made; The reason is, his credit cannot get The inward carbage for his cloathes as yet.

-Herrick: Hesperides. Wright gives the following definition of cabbage used as a verb, “to purloin or embezzle, as pieces of cloth, after cutting out a garment; properly and originally to cut off the heads of cabbages, and occasionally also such as are not our own but belong to others.” This derivation is borne out by the old French cabuser, to deceive, cheat, from cabus, a white-headed cab

bage. Cabbage-head (common), a soft

headed person. Cabbager (common), a tailor.

Formerly cabbage contractor. Cabbage-tree mob (obsolete Aus

tralian slang), now called “larrikins," not quite equivalent to the London street rough or loafer, because they generally are or might be in prosperous circumstances. Thus called on

Cabbage-tree—Cackle.

205

account of the emblem of their order being the low-crowned cabbage-palm hat.

There are to be found round the doors of the Sydney Theatre, a sort of loafers known as the cabbage-tree mob, a class whom, in the spirit of the ancient tyrant, one might excusably wish had but one nose in order to make it a bloody one. -Licut.. Col. Munday: Our Antipodes.

The modern larrikin has exchanged the cabbage-tree for a black wideawake felt hat (hence called the “larrikin hat"), which he wears with its brim turned down. The clothes he most affects are “shiny black," with a velvet collar, and his boots

have ridiculously high heels. Cabbagites. See CABBAGE-TREE

MOB. Unaware of the propensities of the cabbagites, he was by them furiously assailed for no better reason, apparently, than because, like “Noble Percy," "he wore his beaver up."-Lieut.-Col. Munday: Our Antipodes. Cab-bilking (common), cheating

a cabman out of his fare.

Some of the methods of cab-bilking are very artful and curious. One is to order a Jehu to set down a fare at a restaurant or tavern having a back entrance in another street, and to await the return of the latter for a few minutes. On this being done, the rider, after partaking of refreshments, decamps by that exit, to the loss and indig. nation of the driver, who often only learns that the hirer has defrauded him after waiting for a long time beyond that which he has been asked to stay.-Globe. Cabby (general), driver of a cab.

No wonder Lord Ronald Gower is popular among cabbies. Last night he presided over the meeting of the Cabdrivers' Association, and in his speech he remarked that "he always gave cabby what he called the

inevitable extra sixpence, particularly if he found that the driver was kind to his horse.”—Globe. Cable-hanger (nautical), a person

catching oysters in the river Medway, not free of the fishery

(Smyth). Cab-moll (common), a prostitute

in a brothel. Cabob, kibob, khabaub (Anglo

Indian), used in Anglo-Indian households for any kind of roast meat. Properly it is applicable to small slices of meat on skewers, with slices of onion and green ginger between them, the whole being seasoned with pepper and salt, butter, &c. In a plainer form it is common in Venice, and perhaps in all parts

of Italy. Cabobbled (nautical), confused,

puzzled. Caboodle (American), a New Eng

land expression, originally used by coasting sailors. It means the entire party, all the set or clique. It is probably a slang modification of the Spanish word cabildo, which means the

same thing. Cackle (circus), the dialogue of a

play. Some actors seek to de. rive this word from cacalogy. It is, however, far more likely to have been derived by the equestrian performers, who introduced and popularised it, from the more homely “cluck, cluck" of the humble barn-door fowl, after the process of laying an egg.

When manager of Astley's, the great Ducrow, who shared the hatred which his craft has always more or less entertained towards the actor, was wont to apostrophise the performers in his equestrian drama after this fashion: “ Come, I say, you mummers ” (see MUMMERS), “ cut your cackle, and come to the 'osses !”

(Roughs), talk. He was dabs at the cackle.-- Punch. Cackle-chucker (theatrical), the

prompter, whose duty it is to “chuck out” the words, i.e., to prompt the actors when they forget, or don't know the words --a matter of rare occurrence amongst the hierarchy of English actors. As a rule, the prompter is the hardest worked and the worst paid man in the theatre. Notwithstanding his proverbial industry and ability, under no concatenation of cir. cumstances has a prompter ever been known to “ give the word” at the precise moment when it is wanted. One of our most famous stage-managers, a well-known tragedian, is wont to affirm with grim humour that he has observed during a prolonged experience that the first qualification for a prompter is

“ not to know how to prompt.” Cackle merchant (theatrical), the

author of a play. Cackler (popular), talker.

The captain was a good-looking fellow, and a good fellow, too. “He ain't much

of a cackler," thought Susic, when they had sat together for a little while. -Ally Sloper's Half Holiday.

(Thieves), a fowl; “prig of cackler,” one who steals fowls. Cackler's ken (thieves), hen roost. Cackle-tub (common), a pulpit.

Very old slang, but still in use. “ Jack, he goes to church,” said Hass, lifting her eyebrows dubiously, “I don't rightly know to what shop, and it's too far off, maybe, and I ain't got a prayer-book ; but I sorter think if yer'll borrow Lucy's chair to wheel me, I'll go and sit under the cackle-tuo in Little Bethel next Sunday.” -Savage : London. Cackling-chete (old cant), a fowl.

She has a cackling-chete, a grunting. chete, ruff pecke, cassan and poplarr of yarum.-T. Harman : Caveat.

i.e., “She has a fowl, a pig, bacon, cheese, and milk porridge." Cackling - cove (popular and

thieves), an actor. Cad (common). The word is

hardly slang in some of its senses. It has various meanings, such as omnibus conductor.

The spirited proprietor, knowing Mr. Barker's qualifications, appointed him to the vacant office of cad on the very first application.-Sketches by Boz (The First Omnibus Cad).

An’Arry or street boy; a mean or ill-bred fellow; or one vulgar in feeling, to be met with, like the snob, in every class of society. Among a certain class, tradesmen, merchants, workmen.

Thirty years ago, and, even later, the young men of the labouring classes were the cads, the snobs, the blackguards.Kingsley: Alton Lecke.

Mr. — has, further, my congratulations on the excellence of the waiters employed.

They are smart, don't cadge, and are models of civility.-Sporting Times.

(Scholastic), to try and get pupils or hints by sneaking means.

At public schools and uni. versities the term applies to townsmen. Possibly derived from “cadger," or Irish cadas, fustian, rag. More probably from cadet, used in a sense of inferiority. “Caddee”is a provincialism for under - servant, and in France, in the provinces, cadet is a nickname sometimes given to a poor. half-witted hanger-on. to a young farm-servant, or to an ass. “Un fameux cadet” is an expression used by the French in a contemptuous manner, and applied to a puny fellow who puts on airs. It has been suggested that cad comes from the Scotch cadie, a term formerly applied to the carriers of sedan - chairs. The character and occupation of these men were regarded with much con

tempt. Caddy-butcher (popular), ex

plained by quotation.

The calf . . . the veterinary surgeon had advised him to sell it to some caddy. butcher, i.e., one who buys horses to sell for horse meat. ---Standard. Cade, the (society), the Burlington

Arcade. At certain times of the day this covered walk is the lounge of fast men of the town and the better class of the demimonde. Cadge to, properly to beg; sup

posed to be derived from cadge, a basket carried by beggars, in the same way that to beg is from "bag," originally to carry. Slangily applied to waiters who hang about for a gratuity.

Cadge-cloak (old cant), a beggar.

Cadge-cloak, curtal, or curmudgeon, no Whip-Jack, palliard, patrico ... nor any other will I suffer. - Bampfylde Moore Carew. Cadger, properly a trickster, a

tramp or vagabond who either begs or sells small articles by the way as he tramps from place to place.

The full extent of the society's useful. ness, according to vulgar prejudice, is represented by the unfortunate cadger pounced on in the act of receiving alms. and carried before a magistrate to account for that enormous iniquity.--). Greenwood: Seven Curses of London.

Slang meaning explained by quotation.

I may here remark that amongst people of my born grade no one is so contemptu. ously regarded as he who is known as a cadger. The meaning they set on the word is not the dictionary meaning. The cadger with them is the whining beggarthe cowardly impostor, who, being driven or finding it convenient to subsist on charity, goes about his business with an affectation of profoundest humility, and a conscious. ness of his own unworthiness; a sneaking, abject wretch, aiming to crop a meal out of the despising and disgust he excites in hi fellow-creatures. — J. Greenwood : The Little Ragamuffins. Cadging, properly begging.

I've got my living by casting fortins, and begging, and cadging, and such like.H. Kingsley: Geoffrey Hamlyn.

I don't say that they were all beggarsprobably not more than a third of them

208

Cadging—Calaboose.

were-but what one in vain looked for was the "jolly beggar," the oft-quoted and steadfastly believed in personage who scorns work because he can "make" in a day three times the wages of an honest mechanic by the simple process of cadg. ing:-). Greenwood: In Strange Com. рану.

Slangily applied to cabmen when they are off the rank solicit. ing fares, or to waiters who hang

about and fawn for a gratuity. Cady (popular), a hat, from an

old style resembling a barrel. “Cade," provincial English for a

barrel or small cask. Caffre's tightener (South African),

bread or food of any kind, as

distinguished from drink. Cag, to (schoolboys), to irritate

(Hotten). Cage (thieves), a prison. Cagg, to (military), to abstain for a

certain time from liquor. Grose, in his “Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue,” says, “ This is a military term used by private soldiers, signifying a solemn vow or resolution not to get drunk for a certain time, or, as the term is, 'not till their cagg is out,' which vow is commonly observed with strictness ; " e.G., “I have cagged myself for six months,” “Excuse me this time and I will cagg for a year." This term is also in use in Scot.

land. Cagmag (popular), scraps, odds

and ends of butcher meat, un palatable food ; properly an old goose.

Cahoot, in (American), to be in

timately concerned with any one in an affair. There can be little doubt that it came from either the Dutch Kajuit or German Kajūte, or perhaps the same in Old Saxon, meaning a cabin, implying living or messing together. French cahute, a hovel,

renders this more probable. Cain and Abel (rhyming slang),

a table. Cake (American and provincial

English), a man without much sense, or one wanting in ideas; not so much a fool as a mere nothing. A weaker form is expressed by saying, “He's a cake only half-baked.” This expres. sion is most frequently heard in Philadelphia.

“To take the cake,” to surpass, excel, to be first in anything. This coincides oddly, though entirely accidentally, with a conjectured meaning of the origin of Pretzel (q. v.). He's always up to doing folks,

He's always on the wake;
He's after profit when he jokes,
On that " he takes the cake."

-Queer Bits. Cakey (popular), soft, foolish, or

empty-headed; from the provincial English “cake," a foolish fellow.

ith strict

Cakey - pannum - fencer (street),

a street pastry-cook. Calaboose (American), from the

Spanish calabozn, the common name for a watch - house or

prison, especially in New Or Calico (common), weak, lean.
leans.

In such a place as that your calico body I went on board de oder day,

had need have a good fire to keep it warm. To hear wot de boatmen had to say,

-Nathanael Bailey : Colloquies of Eras. Den I let my passion loose,

mus, Translated. An' dey jammed me fast in de calaboose. How a shrewd, down-east Yankee once

-Negro Song. questioned a simple Dutchman out of his

well-fed steed, and left him instead a Calculate, to (American). Al

vile calico-mare in exchange.-Sala : The though it cannot be denied Seven Sons of Mammon. that many people in New Eng

Calico-bally (American), a freland often use the word calculate as a synonym for “guess,” to

quenter of calico-balls. About express every form of thought,

fifty years ago in Philadelphia such as “to esteem, suppose,

it was usual to speak of balls believe, think, expect, intend,”

frequented by factory girls as &c., this is far from being uni.

“slewers," and the commoner versally the case. Calculation

kind of grisettes as calico or sets forth a more deliberate ac

dollar balls; hence calico-bally tion of the mind, and is more

has come to signify, when apassociated with thought. A

plied to a young gentleman Yankee will generally calculate

dissipated or fast, one who goes the chances of anything, when : anywhere for amusement. he would not guess them. Calc'.

I once was a cobby and hack young man, late, which is nothing but the

And a little bit calico-bally;

A picture-card-out-of-the-pack young man, result of rapid conversation,

And frequently music-hally. may be heard in England as in

- Concert Hall Song. America.

Calico yard (Australian), a kind of Calf (common), an idiotic or corral. The expression is used

stupid person; calf - headed, by drovers. cowardly.

She had a girlish fancy for the good. California, Californians, money. looking young calf who had so signally Term generally applied to gold disgraced himself. — Hamilton Aids : only (Hotten). Morals and Mysteries.

Call (theatrical), big call, a warm Calf-clingers (popular), explained

recall before the curtain. by quotation.

Charley played with all his old animaKnee-breeches were just going out of

tion and grace, and got a big call.-George fashion when I was a little boy, and calf.

R. Sims: Ha! Ha! clingers (that is, trousers made to fit the leg as tight as a worsted stocking) were To call a piece is to have it “coming in."-. ). Greenwood : The Little

brought on in rehearsal after Ragamuffins.

a first performance with a view Calf's-head (popular), a white to alterations.

faced man with a large head. (American), to have the call,

Calis

this, he fired two barrels of small shot among 'em, and they scattered. The serenade was over.-Phil. Hartmann and the Boys. Call-party (bar), given in hall by

students called to the bar in the

Middle Temple. Calp, kelp (old cant), a hat. Cāmbra (tinker), a dog. Camden-town (rhyming slang),

a“ brown" or halfpenny.

to be preferred, have the chance, to be wanted. Tall girls have the call now. They are the fashion this season.-Detroit Tribune. Call-a-go (street patter), to leave

off trying to sell anything and to remove to another spot, to desist. Also to give in, yield at any game or business. Pro. bably from the go in cribbage

(Hotten). Calle (American thieves' slang),

a woman's gown. German He

brew kalle, a girl. Callee (pidgin - English), curry.

“No can chaw-chaw t'at callee.” Callithumpian, Calliathumpian

serenade (American), a serenade after the fashion of a charivari, in which old kettles with sticks, gridirons, cows' horns or tin horns, penny trumpets, or anything that will make a horrible and discordant sound is employed. It is possibly from the Yiddish calle, a bride, and means bride-thumping or making a noise at a bridal, or from "call" and "thump." Hartmann got married. . . . Hartmann's neighbours thought it would be a bright thing to give him a calliathum. pian serenade ... occasion. So they got under his window and blowed and snorted, and rung their dinner-bells, and brayed on their bark horns till there was a pause. Then Hartmann stuck his head outen the winder and said: “Friends. Romans, and fellow-citizens! I thank you for the honour of this musical treat, which I suppose to your ears is as good a one as can be given. But it wants one thing. It lacks the exhilarating tones of the shotgun, an' there it is,

d n you !" Saying

Camel's complaint (city), the

bump, i.e., low spirits. Camesa (thieves), a shirt or

chemise. From the Spanish or
Italian. Written also kemesa, as
appears from the following
quotation.
My thimble of ridge and my driz

kemesa,
All my togs were so niblike and plash.

-Ainsworth : Rookwood. Camister (popular), a clergy.

man, from his wearing a white gown; “ camisated,” i.e., one who is dressed with a shirt out

ward. Camp, to (Australian), to floor, to

put down. The metaphor here
is the same as to “make,” to
“take a back seat;" to camp, to
make to camp, implying that
your rival cannot stand up to
you. According to Wright camp
is a provincialism meaning to
contend, from the Anglo-Saxon
cempan.
At punching oxen you may guess

There's nothing out can camp him ;
He has, in fact, the slouch and dress
Which bullock-driver stamp him.

-H. Kendall: Billy Vickers.

Camp-Candlesticks.

2II

stories are told by a French writer as to the origin of the term. Hence canarder, to humbug or spin yarns. “Donner des canards” is given in Hautel's Dictionary (1808) with the meaning of to deceive. “My dear," said Mrs. Snaggs to her husband, “what is a canard ?” “Why, a canard is something one canardly believe, of course." "Oh, to be sure ! Why couldn't I think of that?"-Rare

Bits.

Camp candlesticks (military),

empty bottles and bayonets, from the fact that in the exigencies of military life these articles are often used for the

purpose. Camp-horse (Australian). This

term, peculiar to the East, is thus explained by Mr. Finch Hatton :

Both my brother and Frank were very sound hands at cutting out, and they were both riding first-rate “camp-horses," so I watched thein at work with the greatest interest. A camp-horse is one used for cutting out cattle on a camp, and very few horses are good at it; but the performance of a really first-class one is a sight worth seeing. Each man picks his beast, and edges him gently to the outside of the mob, on the side of the camp nearest the draft.mob. The instant the animal finds itself cut off from the camp, it makes the most desperate efforts to rejoin the herd, and the speed at which a bullock can travel, and the activity with which he turns, are marvellous.-Finch Hatton : Advance Australia.

Can (American), a dollar ; a

“canary” was very old English slang for a gold coin. A goldpiece is also called a “canary.

bird " in New York. Canard, now recognised. French

canard, literally duck, and metaphorically false news. The first canard is said to have been the famous story illus. trating the voracity of ducks. Thirty ducks were taken, one was chopped up fine, feathers and all, and the others ate it. Then a second was minced, and so on, till within an hour only one duck remained. Three similar

The announcement that appeared in these columns, to the effect that in future no advertisements from persons offering to give tips would be accepted by us, has given rise to the usual canards, and has brought into play the imaginative faculties of the “London Correspondent."-Sport. ing Times. Canary (old), a sovereign, from the

colour. French argot, jaunet. Canary-bird (common), a mis

tress. (Thieves), a prisoner. Candle keepers (Winchester Col

lege), the inferiors (all those who are not prefects) who have been longest in the school have certain privileges, as wearing a “Cow-shooter," or round-topped hat. They used to be called

“jolly keepers.” Candlestick (Winchester College),

a corruption of candidate. Those who go in for the college entrance examination are termed candle

sticks. Candlesticks (London), the foun

tains at Trafalgar Square.

There was his pillar (Nelson's) at Charing Cross, just by the candlesticks (fountains).-Mayhew: London Labour and the London Poor.

212

Candy-pull-Canon.

Candy-pull (American), a candy.

pull is a party of both sexes at which molasses orsugar is boiled and pulled by two persons(whose hands are buttered) to give it

per consistency, and then pro mixed and pulled again, till it becomes true candy. The term is used in slang in many ways.

The good old-fashioned amusement known as a candy-pull has had more or less of a revival in society this season. Whatever the time of its first advent, it was quite popular about twenty years ago as a society entertainment, but it seemed to run its course and died away. At that period candy-pulls were given in some of the most aristocratic mansions on Fifth Avenue, and the rollicking scenes were oftentimes quite democratic in the fun, however full-dressed might have been their presentation. Brooklyn Eagle.

Cane (common), “to lay Cane upon

Abel ;” to beat with a cane.

ing backwards and forwards.-Atkin: House Scraps.

(Pugilistic), the head. Cank (old), dumb, silent. Cannibals (Cambridge), the train

ing - boats for the Cambridge freshmen or the rowers them

selves. Cannis-cove (American), a dog.

fancier. A word current in New York. In Dutch thieves' slang the Latin word canis is used for a dog, but, as the accent falls on the last syllable, it is thought to be derived from the French caniche. This is the more probable as the Dutch word is

limited to small dogs. Cannon (turf), the collision of two

horses during a race; from billiards. Apparently on the lucus a non principle, the jockey bearing this name (Thomas Cannon) is celebrated for his scrupulous and honourable avoidance of such a mishap.

(Common), to cannon, to come into collision. French slang caramboler, literally to make a cannon at billiards. Roaring with pain and terror, the boy cannoned into the very hand of a policeman, who seized him.-Shirley Brooks : Sooner or Later. Canon (thieves), drunk.

One night I was with the mob, I got canon (drunk), this being the first time. After this, when I used to go to concertrooms, I used to drink beer.—Horsley: Jottings from Jail.

Canon, literally having used the “can” freely.

Cane nigger (West Indian), a

happy-go-lucky fellow, one devoid of care and anxiety. From the circumstance that in “cane time" the negroes are fat and happy. As “fat as a nigger in cane time” has become pro. verbial in Antigua.

Caners (fashionable). In the

summer of 1886, at several watering - places, almost every young lady carried a cane. It was originally an American

fancy. Canister (common), a hat; also

“canister cap."

Turning round, I saw my unfortunate beaver, or canister, as it was called by the gentry who had it in their keeping, bound

The French slang for a glass of wine is canon. Canonner is to drink wine at a wine-shop, or to be an habitual tippler; and se canonner is to get drunk.

Cannon is a very common word in German for a drinking-cup. Hence he is “canonised,” he is “shot," i.e., he is drunk. “Er ist geschossen" (Körte Proverbs). The word is naturally confused with can, German Kaune, a tankard, and canonenstiefel, or “cannon” (i.e., long boots), which are a common pattern for tankards. Who will not empty his boots like a can, He is indeed no German man.

-Common Saying. Canoodle, to (English and Ameri

can), to fondle, pet, dally, bill

and coo. I meet her in the evening, for she likes to

take a walk At the moment when the moon cavorts

above, And we prattle and canoodle, and of every.

thing we talk, Except, of course, that naughty topic

love. -Bird o' Freedom.

Possibly from“cannie,” gentle. Canoodler (American), explained

by quotation. “Pray, good sir, what is a canoodler?"

“Tell you, mum, queer business, mum, but prosperous, money-heaps of it, mum, for you and me "-and he winked signifi cantly, jerked up a chair and squatted in it, all in a breath. . . . Undeterred, he rattled on: “I'm an original thinker, mum. Invent business opportunities. Share'm with actors, and then we canoodle-divvy the profits. Me and Sheridan made a big thing on the Japanese advertising screen in School for Scandal.' Big thing."Green Room Jokes.

Cant (pugilistic), blow, a “cant on

the chops," a blow on the face. (Tramps), explained by quotation. We broke one window because the house was good for a cant-that's some foodbread or meat, and they wouldn't give it us.- Mayhew: London Labour and the London Poor.

Also a gift, as a "cant of togs," a gift of clothing. In these senses, from cant, to divide, as used by Jusser, p. 278. Hence cant, a sham.

(Thieves), to cant the cues, to explain a matter, to tell a story. “But cant us the cues. What was the job?" "A pinch for an emperor's slang. We touched his leather too, but it was very lathy."-On the Trail. Canteen (South African), a road

side tavern; natives often call

all kinds of drink cunteen. Canteen medal (army), a good

conduct stripe which is gained by absence from the defaulters' book. The illusion implies that the bearer owes his stripe rather to a strong head than good resolution to keep away from the

canteen. Canticle (old slang), a parish

clerk. Can't say National Intelligencer

(American), equivalent to saying “he is drunk,” it being held that no one who is not sober can pronounce the name of this very old and respectable Washing. ton newspaper. There is a story in which the phrase ori. ginated—or which originated

214

Can't say—Capper-clawing.

from it, to the effect that a father in Washington who had a dissipated son, always obliged him when he returned home at night to submit to this test. If he said Nacial Intellencer, he was obliged to sleep in the hay.

loft of the stable. Canuck (American), a Canadian.

The origin of this word appears to be unknown. The derivation from Connaught, an Irishman, is far-fetched and doubtful. It may be possibly the first syllable of Canada, with an Indian termination, but this is mere conjecture. Vo or uq' is a common Algenkin ending to nouns. It is probably an Indian

word modified. Canvasseens (nautical), sailors'

canvas trousers. Canvas town (popular), the por.

tion of Wimbledon Common occupied by the flags of the riflemen when encamped there

—within the flags. Cap (thieves), a false cover to a

tossing coin. To cap, to assist as a confederate, especially of cardsharpers. See CAPPER. (Universities), to cap the quadrangle, to cross the area of the college, cap in hand, in reverence to the “ fellows" who sometimes

walk there. Cape cod turkey (American), salt

fish. In the same way a “Yarmouth capon” is a bloater. Capella (theatrical), a coat. From

the Italian.

“The proper caper," the last fashionable fancy, the latest "comme il faut device.” Mind-reading is now the proper caper. “ Take hold of my left hand and tell me what I'm thinking of," said the head of the family to his confiding spouse. “Oh, yes," said she, grasping his hand convulsively, "you are thinking about taking me to hear Patti.” She had to guess again.Boston Herald.

(Streets), device, occupation for a living. “Are you goin'a tottin'?" "No." ... " Then what caper are you up to?"-Greenwood: The Little Ragamuffins.

Caper-sauce (common), to “cut

caper-sauce,” to be hanged. Capers (thieves), “merchant of

capers,” a dancer. And my father, as I've heard say,

Fake away! Was a merchant of capers gay, Who cut his last fling with great applause. Nix my doll pals, fake away!

-Ainsworth : Rookwood. Also caper merchant. Capper (American thieves), ex

plained by quotation. Gamblers are called knights of the green cloth, and their lieutenants, who are sent out after greenhorns, are called decoys, cappers, and steerers. - New York Slang Dictionary, Capper-clawing (popular), a fight

between females.

Captain Copperthorne's crew

(old slang), where every one wishes to rule the roast, or to

take command. Captain Crank (old cant), head of

a gang of highwaymen. Captain Hackum (old slang), a

blustering bully, a Bombastes

Furioso. Captain lieutenant (old slang),

the flesh of an old calf, meat that was neither veal nor beef. This phrase was of military origin, and was a simile drawn from the officer of that denomination. These men, while ranking as captains, only drew the pay of a lieutenant, and though not full captains were above the lieutenants. Captain Queernabs (old slang), a

man who was shabbily dressed

and ill-conditioned. Captain Sharp (old slang), a

cheat, blackleg, or common

swindler. Captain Tom (old slang), the

ringleader of a mob. Sometimes also the mob itself was so

called. Cap your lucky (American

thieves), run away. Cap your skin, to (thieves), to

strip naked. Caravan (old slang), a large

sum of money, also a person swindled out of a large amount. (Pugilistic), a railway train, es. pecially a train expressly char

tered to convey people to a

prize fight (Hotten). Caravanserai (pugilistic), a rail

way station. Carcoon (Anglo-Indian), a clerk,

from the Mahratta kārkān, a clerk (Anglo-Indian Glossary). My benefactor's chief carcoon allowed me to sort out and direct despatches to officers at a distance who belonged to the command.-Pandurang Hari. Card (popular), a character. A

man may be a knowing, a downy, rum, or shifting card, or queer sort of card, according to circumstances. Mr. Thomas Potter, whose great aim it was to be considered as a knowing card, a fast goer, and so forth.–Sketches by Boz. The last time that he got run in,

Is days about a week,
And, on the charge of drunkenness,

Was brought before the beak;
He chaffed the magistrate and said,

"You are a rum old card!” So forty shillings he was fined, Or else a month with hard.

-G. Horncastle : The Frying Pan.

(Common), a device, undertaking. A strong card, an undertaking likely to succeed. On

the cards, likely, probable. Cardinal (American), a lobster;

cardinal hash, lobster salad (New York Slang Dictionary).

(Old), a lady's red cloak. Now mulled red wine. Cargo (Winchester), explained by 216

quotation. Scholars may supplement their fare with jam, potted meats . . . or, better still, from the contents of cargoes, i.e., hampers from home. -Everyday Life in our Public Schools.

Carler-Carpet-bag.

Carler (New York thieves), a

clerk Carlicues, curlicues (American),

lively tricks, capers. The derivation from curly and cue seems to be due to a mere resemblance in sound, and an arbitrary combination. Bartlett suggests caracole (French), anagrams being common in colloquial language. The old word carle-cat, or carlicat, a male cat or kitten, may have influenced the formation

of carlicues. Carnes (popular), to heap up ca

resses, flatteries, compliments, and blandishments, with the view of deceiving the persons on whom they are lavished. The derivation is from carne or cairn, a heap or pile of stones. A similar idea led to the use of the phrase, “pile up the agony." The word is also “carmes,” evi.

Caroon (costermongers), five shil.

lings. Possibly from the Italian

corona. Carpet (common), to be called

upon the carpet, or to be carpeted, to be scolded, reprimanded, to have to give an account of one's self.

Poor Percy was often carpeted, and as often he promised amendment.- Mark Lemon : Golden Fetters.

What looked to most people like a mis. carriage of justice occurred in connection with the August Handicap, won by Rhythm. George Barrett, who rode the second, was carpeted, on the complaint of the apprentice Allsopp (inspired by his master), for foul riding.--Sporting Times.

(Masonic), the painting representing the emblems of a degree. Carpet-bagger (popular), a term

introduced from America. A man who seeks election in a place with which he has no connection (T. L. 0. Davies).

Other carpet-baggers, as political knightserrant unconnected with the localities are called, have had unpleasant receptions.Guardian Newspaper.

Synonymous with carpet-bag politician.

Wright gives the definition: Carpet-bagger, an opprobrious appellation applied to a resident of one of the Northern States, who after the Civil War of 1861-65 removed to the South for temporary residence, and the promotion of personal and

selfish ends. Carpet-bag recruit (army), one of

the better class who joins with his baggage, with other clothes in fact than those in which he stands.

ns,

often pronounced karms, meaning loves, likes, pets, &c. A kām or karm, which is nearer to the Sanskrit, is a desire, a

love, &c. Carney, flattery, hypocritical lan

guage. Supposed to be of Irish origin. To carney or come the carney, to flatter, wheedle, in

sinuate oneself. Carnish (thieves), meat, from the

Italian carne ; carnish-ken, a thieves' eating-house. In the French argot “carne” is tough

meat. Carob (tinker), to cut.

and unexpected legatees often do- or who becomes affected and intolerant, that “ he doesn't carry corn well ” (Hotten).

Carpet-swab (popular), carpet

bag. A little gallows-looking chap . . . with a carpet-swab and mucking togs.-Ingoldsby Legends. Carpet tom-cat (military), an

officer who shows much attention to, and spends a great deal of his time in the company of

ladies. Carrier (old), a tell-tale. (Thieves),

a rogue employed to look out and watch upon roads, at taverns, &c., in order to carry

information to his gang. Carrier-pigeon (thieves), a swin

dler, one who formerly used to cheat lottery office-keepers; now used among betting-men to de. scribe one who runs from place to place with commissions

(Hotten). Carrion case (popular), a shirt, a

shift. Carrion-hunter (old cant), an un

dertaker. Carrots, carroty-nob (common),

applied to a red-haired person. “Here, one of you boys-you, Carrots -run to the Compasses' and tell Mr. Kiddy he's wanted." A sharp, red-haired lad darted off with the message.-Mark Lemon : Loved at Last. Carry, to (old cant), to carry the keg is said of one easily angered.

An allusion to fiery spirits. Carry corn, to (common), to bear

success well and equally. It is said of a man who breaks down under a sudden access of wealth -a successful horse-racing man

Carry me out! (American), an

expression of incredulity or affected disgust. It implies feeling faint and requiring to be carried out into the fresh air. It would be called forth by a bad pun, or an impossible story, or “blowing ;" often preceded by “oh, good night,” and sometimes intensified by the addition of “and leave me in the

gutter.” carry on, to (common), to make love to, to flirt openly.

Also to joke a person to excess, to have a great spree, to be lively or arrogant, or act in any out of the way manner.

There is a time in the life of every young lady when she feels like carrying on. No matter how modest, and pious, and truly good a girl may be, a day comes when she feels like doing something ridiculous, and creating a great laugh.-Bird o' Freedom. Cart (turf), an owner is said to be

“in the cart," or carted, when his horse is prevented winning by some fraud on the part of those in his employment. Instances are not wanting where the public have been put “in the cart” by an owner who resents their interference with his field of speculation.

(City.) When two or three fellows are playing at dominoes or cards, the one who has the lowest score but one, at any moment of the game, is said to be 218

Carted— Castieau's hotel.

Caser (thieves), explained by

quotation. Vide CASE. So one morning I found I did not have more than a caser (five shillings). — Horsley: Jottings from Jail.

Cask (society), a brougham.

“in the cart.” The lowest score is called “on the tail-board.”.

Also race-course : “traversed the cart,” walked over the

course. Carted (old), signified taken to

execution or whipped at the

cart's tail. Carts (popular), a pair of shoes ;

also “crab shells.” Cart-wheel (thieves), five-shilling

piece. French slang has roue de

derrière for a five-franc piece. Carvel (New York thieves), jea

lous. Probably meaning also in · love or wooing; from carve, to

make love to. Vide Halliwell. Ca-sa (legal), a writ of capias ad

satisfaciendam. Casa, caser, carser (costermon.

gers and negro minstrels), a house, Italian. (Theatrical), a house. French slang has case

with the same signification. Cascade or hang out (theatrical),

scenic effect at conclusion of scene or performance. (Popu

lar), to cascade, to vomit. Case (American), a dollar, good

or bad. In England a bad crown piece. Hebrew, kesef, silver, 702; hence kasch, a headpiece (i.e., a coin), and the Yiddish caser, a crown.

(Tailors), “ case of pickles," a hopeless case; "he is the greatest cuse evermore,” he is the worst man known, or, he is a most remarkable individual.

(Old), a brothel. Also a watercloset. (Thieves), a house.

Cass, cassan (thieves and roughs),

cheese. From the Italian cacio. It is remarkable that this, the oldest slang for cheese, is still current among thieves in New York. It is found in nearly all the Latin, Teutonic, and Celtic languages. In old cant, casson. It is generally supposed to have been introduced by the gypsies. Here's ruffpeck and cassons, and all of

the best, And scraps of the dainties of gentry cofe's feast.

--Broome: Jovial Crew. Cassan. See Cass. Cassie (printers), wrinkled,

stained, or outside sheets of paper. Old provincial, cassen, cast off. From casse, to discharge, cashier. Latin, cassare,

to break. Cast (popular). Men in small

boats who want to be towed bebind steamers say "give us

a cast” (Hotten). Castieau's hotel (Australian

thieves' patter), the Melbourne jail, so called from Mr. J. B. Casticau, the governor of the Melbourne jail. He “caught" a month and had to “white it out" at "diamond-cracking" in Castieau's hotel, - The Australian Printer's Keepsake.

Castle - rag (rhyming slang), a

"flag" or fourpence. Cast-offs (nautical), landsmen's

clothes. Castor (common), a bicycle. Pro

perly a small wheel. Mr. C-, who being driven by a lady whose carriage was molested by cads on castors, climbed solemnly down, and ... administered a well-deserved collective hiding to the crowd. —Sporting Times. Cast up one's account, to. Vide

ACCOUNTS. Casual (common), a tramp or

poor man, who seeks shelter at night at a workhouse.

I have, at the risk of shocking the reader of delicate sensibilities, quoted at full the terms in which my ruffianly casual chamber fellow delivered himself of his opinion as to the power of " cheek" illimitable.-J. Greenwood : Seven Curses of London. Cat (popular), a drunken, fighting

prostitute. Also contemptuously applied to a woman.

(Society), “an old cat,” an old lady of malicious disposition, who has une mauvaise langue, and is always saying disagreeable things and telling ill-natured stories. Cat, or old cat, is often applied by servants to their mistress. Well, look here, Jessie, I am determined to have some fun while the cat's away.Truth.

“A tame cat" is a man in society who always has the entrée of a house and is treated almost like one of the family, and who, if a bachelor, is not looked upon as a likely suitor for one of the daughters, but

is made general use of when a man is wanted in a hurry to fill up a vacancy.

(Thieves), lady's muff. To “free a cat," to steal a muff. To go out“cat and kitten" hunting, is stealing pewter pots from publicans. (Popular), to“ shoot the cat,” to vomit. (Tailors), to “whip the cat,” to work at private houses. (Infantry), to “shoot the cat," to sound the

bugle for defaulters' drill. Cat and kittens (thieves), quart

and pint pots. Cat and mouse (rhyming slang),

house. Catawampously (American),

fiercely, eagerly, violently. “Catawampously chewed up,” completely defeated, utterly demolished.

There is something cowardly in the idea of disunion. Where are the wealth and power that showed us fourteen millions ? Take to our heels before three hundred thousand slaveholders for fear of being "catawampously chewed up."- Frederick Douglas : A Negro Orator. Catch (popular), or “a great catch,"

woman or man worth marrying. Generally applied to wealthy men and heiresses, or “warm” widows. I am friends with her ma, I stand drinks

to her pa, They think I'm a catch, that is plain. -G. Horncastle: I'll See you again in

the Morning (Ballad). Catch a bob, to (American), a

boy's expression for getting on behind and taking a ride gratis ; getting a lift.

Cat-heads (old), a woman's

breasts. Cat-lap (common), weak drink. Cats' head (Winchester College),

the fag end of a shoulder of mutton. Cats' meat (popular), the lungs. Cats' party (familiar), a party to

which none but those of the weaker sex are invited, and at which tea drinking and singing are indulged in. She was once introduced to young MThis was at a cats' party given by Mrs.

to a few ladies.-Standard. It is likely Mr. Justice — thought it funny and appropriate to hint that a festivity was called a cats' party on account of the music. — Town Talk. Cats' water (popular), gin, cat

being here meant for woman. Cat's-skin earl (parliamentary),

one of the three senior earls in

the House of Lords. Catting (common) vomiting. Cattle (popular), a kind. One

talks of men being “rum cattle,"
“queer cattle," just as one talks
of a man being “a queer fish”.

or “a downy bird."
But lawyers is cattle I feel to hate,
And this one-I'd like to punch his head.

-Keighley Goodchild: How Waif

went to England.

agreeing to act together on the day of election. What a caucus is, as popularly under. stood in England, needs no explanation ; but the curious thing about the word is the seeming impossibility of ascertaining with any certainty its origin and deriva. tion. The explanation generally given is that it is a corruption of “caulkers" or “calk-house.” One authority says that the members of the shipping interest, the “caulkers" of Boston, were associated, shortly before the War of Independence, in actively promoting opposition to Eng. land, and that the word arose from their meetings in the caulkers' house or "calk. house."

Another derivation has, however, been proposed. In the “Transactions of the American Philological Association, 1872," Dr. Hammond Trumbull suggests that the origin of the word is to be found in the native Indian cau-cau-as-u, meaning one who advises. -Cornhill Magazine.

It may be observed that the derivation of the word from "caulkers” is perfectly rational, and has been accepted for more than a century. There is a pun implied in the name (“caulker,” a tremendous story, an overwhelming fellow) which pro

bably aided to make it popular. Caught on the fly (American),

a phrase borrowed from ball play, but applied to being caught, interviewed, or otherwise arrested, while travelling.

Carter Harrison told that New York reporter that he “must be caught on the fly.' According to his own umpiring, then, his New York speech was a foul bawl. -American Newspaper.

An English equivalent is "caught on the hop." Caulk, to (nautical), to lie down on

deck and sleep, with clothes on.

Caucus (American), lately intro

duced into England, originally a meeting of politicians called together to debate upon the claims of candidates for politi. cal or municipal offices, and

222

Caulker_Cawbawn.

Caulker (society), a lie, derived

from a “caulker." a stiff dram. that takes a considerable deal of swallowing, also supposed to be derived from “corker,” a regular stopper. (Common), a stiff dram.

The Mobile officer joins us heartily in a caulker, and does not need to be pressed to take a little supper.--Archibald Forbes: My Experiences of the War between France and Germany. Caution (general), any one who is

peculiarly dressed, peculiar in his habits, or eccentric, some one who makes himself ridiculous. This word is an abbreviation of the expression “a caution to snakes." Altogether he was a caution to look at. -Sam Slick: The Clockmaker.

Also anything out of the common way.

Their win against Middlesex-who led off with a first innings of 301-by eight wickets is an example of one of their surprises, and what is vulgarly called a cau. tion.-Bailey's Monthly Magazine. Cavaulting (old), copulation.

From the Lingua Franca cavolta. Cavaulting school (old slang),

a house of ill fame, a brothel. Cave-in (American), to fall in. “A metaphor taken,” says Hotten, “ from an abandoned mining shaft," but it was used in Ame. rica before 1819. Now generally applied to a failure, such as a bankruptcy, a collapse of stock speculations, or of political schemes.

That is what Colonel Sanderson and his colleagues in the representation of Irish

landlordism call it-an absolute all-round cave-in on the part of the Government.Pall Mall Gazette.

It is also applied to any kind of indentation. I went down dar wid my hat caved in,

Du-da, du-da! Came back home wid my pocket full of tin,

Du-da, du-da-day!

-Negro Minstrel Song. Cave-in, properly to “calvein," a phrase introduced by Dutch navvies. Flemish inkalven, to cave-in. Friesic calven, to calve as a cow, also to care-in. The falling' portion of earth is compared to a calf dropped by a cow (Skeat). From early times glaciers were called by the Dutch cows, and the icebergs which fell from them calves. The falling of the bergs was

called calving Cavort, to (American), to kick up

the heels like a horse at play, or to act extravagantly.

As long as there has been a stage for pretty women to cavort on, there have been impressionable youths to worship at the shrines of the pretty women.-Ameri. can Newspaper.

To move about in an aimless manner.

O Sal! yer's that derned fool from Simpson's, cavortin' round yer in the dew. -Bret Harte: Penelope. Cawbawn (up-country Austra

lian), spelt also cobbon, big, a word borrowed from the blacks, which has passed into bushslang, and is generally used by bushmen. “There," said Stone, pointing to the big house, “nobody has lived in the

'cawbawn humpy'— that is what the blacks call it-since Mr. Cosgrove went away." — A. C. Grant: Bush-Life in Queensland. Caxton (theatrical), a wig. Cayuse (cowboys), a horse. Caz (thieves), cheese. See Cass.

An easy dupe. As good as caz,

easy to accomplish. Cedar (prison), a pencil.

He was a “first-class " man, entitled to write every quarter. He provided cedar and a sheet of paper on which I wrote what was necessary.-Evening News. Century (turf), a hundred pounds.

A little cheque for a century is the prize we offer this week for the successful accomplishment of the task of naming the first three.-Sporting Times. Cert (turf), used in reference to

a racing event thought to be
about to have a successful issue.

A man who was burdened with debt
Heard a cert and heavily bebt,

But what should have won

So badly did ron
That quickly the man had to “gebt.”

-Bird o' Freedom. Certainties (printers). See UN

CERTAINTIES. A vulgarism ap

plied to infants of the male sex. Chaff-cutter (old), slanderous

tongue, slanderer. Chaffer (popular), the mouth; a

great talker. One of these men had a wife who used to sell for him; she was considered to be the best chaffer in the row ; not one of them could stand against her tongue.Mayhew: London Labour and the London Poor.

To “moisten one's chaffer,” to have a drink.

Chaffy (Blue-coat School), spruce,

amiable. Chai, chy, tchai (gypsy), girl,

woman; Romany, chi, a female

gypsy. Chairus, cheirus, chyrus (gypsy),

time. Bonar gives this word

also for “heaven." Chal (gypsy), (pronounced tchal, ch

as in church), a lad, a gypsy. Hotten says this was the old Romany term for a man, but it is as much in use as ever. A woman is not a chie, but a chy or

chai, to rhyme with why. Chālava (gypsy), I touch. Chal droch (tinker), a knife. Chalk (turf), unknown or incom

petent. The names of most jockeys are printed on slides, which are kept ready at every race-meeting for insertion in the telegraph-board. Formerly a certain number of slate or black slides were used, so that the name of a new jockey could at once be written thereon in chalk. Hence “a chalk-jockey” came to mean one unknown, or unfavourably known, to fame. His name was not considered worth printing. (Common), unknown, obscure. A list of remarkably chalk-titled personages. - World.

(Tailors), chalk ! silence! Chalk - farm (rhyming slang),

arm. Chalks (popular), by chalks, by

far, by many degrees.

224

Chalks—Champagne.

bout, by scribbling them down with chalk upon the wall. Whole weeks and months of hard-earned gold, by ounces and even pounds weight at a time, disappeared at these haunts, in a mazy account and reckoning between a landlord and his customer, chalked up during successive days of intoxication.W. Westgarth: Victoria late Australia Felix.

(Common), chalk it up, put it to my account.

In chatting, singing, and dancing,

Don't we pass each night away, We beat by chalks your finest parties, I'll a wager lay. We are all jolly, &c.

-Song. Also “long chalks," originally an expression used by tailors only, alluding to the chalk lines on garments. “From your counsel's statement and the seeming honesty of your countenance," said the learned magistrate, “I was quite convinced that you were innocent ; but the evidence of the last witness has quite upset all my previous convictions."

“I wish it would upset all mine," growled the culprit.

But it didn't by long chalks, and his address was Millbank for the next six months.-Sporting Times.

Also the legs. To “walk one's chalks,” to go away.

The prisoner has fabricated his pilgrim's staff, to speak scientifically, and perambulated his calcareous strata. “What?" Cut his stick, and walked his chalks. Kingsley: Two Years Ago. Chalk, to (nautical), to make one

pay his footing or stand treat. At sea it is the custom the first time a new comer goes up a mast for some old hand to chase him up and try to get near enough to him to chalk his shoes. If he succeeds the new comer is expected to pay for a bottle of rum.

Cham (gypsy), cheek, leather, tin.

Chammerdino, a slap on the

cheek. Chamberlain (Winchester Col

lege), the brewer of the college and school. Chamber of Horrors (Parliamen

tary), the Peeresses' gallery at the House of Lords, from its being railed round as if it contained objectionable or repul. sive inmates.

There could be no doubt as to the in. convenience, the gallery being generally known as the Chamber of Horrors.--Daily Narus. Chammy (society), champagne,

termed also “cham,” or “boy,"

and sometimes " fizz.” Champagne Charley (popular),

any dissipated man or noted drinker of “ fizz.” The name of a song which appeared in 1868, which was set to a very pleasing and original air. The origi. nal Charley is said to have been a wine-merchant, who was in the habit of making presents of bottles of champagne to all his friends.

Chalk up, to (Australian slang, less

frequent in England), to debit to a person. Undoubtedly the expressionarose from the custom of the keeper of an ale-house making a note of the various drinks consumed in a drinking

As long as one can remember, gangs of men have perambulated the highways in the frosty months, but until recently they were invariably chanters with a legend of coming all the way from Man. chester. But song is eschewed in modern times.-Greenwood: Seven Curses of London.

Champion, very commonly used

in America to signify pre-eminent. An exemplary humbug is described as “a champion fraud.” A noisy candidate for office was denounced by a Chi. cago newspaper as "the cham

pion gas-bag.” Champ up, to (popular), to tear

up, pull upwards. Chancer (tailors), one who exag

gerates, or lies. Also one who attempts anything and is in

competent. Chancery. To get a man's head

into chancery is to get it under your arm so as to pummel it at ease. The allusion is ob.

vious. Chance the ducks (popular), an

ironical phrase signifying “come what may" (Hotten). Chance your arm (tailors), try,

let it go, chance it. Chaney-eyed (popular), with but

one eye, or eyes like those of a Chinese, as chaney is sometimes used as a corruption of China.

It is another prisoner, who replaces the last individual-a "wall-eyed" or chancy. eyed prisoner, with an open mouth.- The Graphic. Chant (old cant), an advertise

ment. Chant, to (popular), to talk, in

form, cry up, sing ballads, &c.;

chanting-coves, reporters. Chanters (popular), explained by

quotation.

Chanty (nautical). “There are

two kinds of sea songs : those which are sung at concerts and in drawing-rooms, and sometimes, but not very often, at sea, and those which are never heard off shipboard. The latter have obtained in this age the name of chanty, a term which I do not recollect ever having heard when I was following the life. It is obviously manufactured out of the French word”

(W. Clark Russell). Chapel (printers). As various

references are made to matters arising out of the chapel, it is necessary to describe this institution. Technically, it refers to the meetings of the workmen to discuss trade matters, to settle disputes, and to consider charitable appeals, &c., and various rules are enforced for the guidance of the workmen and maintenance of good feeling amongst themselves. It has been supposed that the term arose from the fact that Caxton established the first printing-press in this country in Westminster Abbey. The officers of these chapels usually consist of a “father" and “clerk.” Chapel of ease (common), the

water-closet.

226

Chapper-co — Charter.

Chapper -cot (Anglo - Indian).

Hindu, chappar-khat, a bedstead with curtains. Chappie (society), a term of en

dearment in use among the “mashers" of society when addressing their friends and acquaintances, much in vogue lately. A dandy.

I am going to send this correspondence to Punch. Ta! ta! dear old chappie.Punch.

He was a harmless-looking chappie. -Sporting Times. Chapt (old cant), thirsty, Cbar (gypsy), grass. Charl-chorl (gypsy), to pour out,

vomit; chorl it avree, pour it

out. Charge, to (Winchester College),

to run at all speed. Charing Cross (rhyming slang),

horse. Chariot-buzzing (thieves), pick

ing pockets in an omnibus. Charles, his friend (theatrical),

the walking gentleman, or se. condary interesting young man

of a play. Charley (thieves), a gold watch;

probably from the old word Charley, the watch or a watchman. (Tailors), the nap on a "faced” cloth, also a round

shouldered figure. Charley Bates farm. See

BATES' FARM. Charley Lancaster (rhyming

slang), handkerchief, pronounced “handkercher.”

It was the duty of the watchman to call the hours, but no voice of any vigilant Charlie had as yet saluted the ears of Lowry.--Turnpike Dick, or the Star of the Road. Charlies (Winchester College),

thick string gloves, called thus from the Rev. Charles Griffith. (Popular), a woman's breasts, also “ bubbies," “ dairies.” Charm (thieves), a picklock. Charpoy (Anglo - Indian), ex

plained by quotation. We must send down to the bazaar, and get tables, chairs, and charpoys (bedsteads).

W. H. Russell : My Diary in India in the Years 1858–59. Charrshom, chershom (tinker), a

crown. Charter the bar, charter the

grocery, to (American), to buy all the liquor in a groggery or “rum-mill ” and give it away freely to all comers. This is not an uncommon occurrence in the South and West.

Chattering (prize ring), a blow on

the mouth. Chatter broth (old slang), a tea

party. Chatty (popular), filthy, lousy.

A chatty, a lousy person; a “chatty doss," a bed with ver. min. Vide CHATS.

Chatty-leeder (thieves), a spoon.

Vide CHATTY.

This fine Arkansas gentleman raises seve.

ral hundred bales; Unless through drought, or worm, or some

other contingency, his crop runs short

and fails; And when his crop is ginned and baled, he

puts it on board a boat, And charters the bar, and has a devil of a

good spree while down to New Orleans he and his cotton float.

- Albert Pike. Bolus was no niggard. He would as soon treat a regiment or charter the grocery for the day as any other way.J. G. Baldwin : David Bolus, Esq. Chat (thieves), a house ; from

chattels, or château.

I had not been at Sutton very long before I piped a slavey (servant) come out of a chat (house), so when she had got a little way up the double (turning), I pratted (went) into the house.—Rev. J. W. Hors. ley: Jottings from Jail.

“ That's the chat," the proper words to use; the state or facts of a case.

Has the gentleman any right to be in this room at all, or has he not? ... That's the chat, as I take it.-Anthony Trollope: Orley Farm Chat-hole (prison), a hole in the

wall, made to carry on a con. versation.

Chaunt or chant, to, to takeworth

less horses to fairs and sell them by false representations.

Jack Firebrand and Tom Humbold ... was here this morning chanting horses with 'em.-- Thackeray : Virginians.

To chaunt the play, to explain the tricks and devices of thieves.

Chaunted upon the leer (old cant),

an advertiser.

Chaunter (street), a man who sells

ballads, last dying speeches, &c., in the streets. Street ballad singer.

The running patterer . . . is accom: panied generally by a chaunter. The chaunter not only sings, but fiddles.Mayhew: London Labour and the Lon. don Poor.

A dealer who takes worthless horses to fairs and sells them by false representations.

Chats (theatrical), properties ;

short for chattels. (Popular), lice. In this sense chats is probably from chatel, meaning cattle.

(Stock Exchange), London, Chatham, and Dover Railway stock.

Chatta (Anglo-Indian), an um.

brella. Chatterers (common), the teeth.

Chaunter-cull (street). There are rhymsters who carry on a trade in London—though the headquarters appear to be in Birmingham-who write ballads to order on any subject, to be sung in the streets, on events that may

228

Chaunter-cull — Cheek.

interest the public: murders, Chaws or chores (American), executions, elopements, breaches small jobs. The handy man of promise, suicides, or horrible does chores. railway accidents. The hono Very early in the morning there is an rarium paid to these self-styled unpleasant operation to be performed, poets is said to vary from half

called “doing chaws,” in the simple lan

guage of the farm. This luckily applied a-crown (the minimum) to three

only to Charlie and Mr. C., who, I believe, half-crowns (the maximum).

except during the busiest part of the year,

work the 300 acre farm without help. Chauvering donna (theatrical), a “Doing chaws," by the way, means feed

prostitute. Chauvering is canting the creatures generally. — Phillipsfor sexual intercourse. Also,

Wolley: Trottings of a Tenderfoot. “columbine, knofka."

Chaw up, to (popular), to finish

one up. “Chawed up," done Chauvering moll (old cant), a

for. prostitute.

I felt as if I could chaw him right up,

I was so mad. --Sam Slick : The Clock. Chaw (university), a trick; to

maker. chaw, to deceive. (American),

Cheapside (old slang), “He came to use up.

at it by way of Chcapside,” that Chawbacon (common), a country

is, little or nothing was given clown, a rough, rude, unedu.

for it. cated rustic, a clodhopper ; Cheat or nubbing-cheat (thieves), sometimes colloquially desig. the gallows. nated as “Giles” or “Hodge,” See what your laziness is come to; to the from the supposed prevalence cheat, for thither will you go now, that's of these patronymics among the infallible.--Fielding: Jonathan Wild. rural population.

Chee (pidgin), long; probably an The chaw-bacons, hundreds of whom abbreviation of muchee “much," were the Earl's tenants, raised a shout.

“ China-boy no stoppee chee Savage: R. Medlicott.

tim." Chaw - buckt (Anglo - Indian), a Chee-chee, (gipsy), nothing, less,

whip. Hindu, chabuk; gypsy, superfluous, also equivalent to chuckmi.

“be silent.” Ye same day Ramgivan was brought

Cheek (common), assurance, imforth and slippered, the next day he was beat on ye soles of his feet, ye third day

pudence. Probably from the chaw-buckt, and ye 4th drub'd till he could habit of impudent persons of not speak, and all to force a writing in our

putting their tongue in their names for Rupees 50,000.-Hedges.

cheek. Chaw over, to (popular), to repeat

Although she was neither good-looking

nor young, one's words with a view to ridi

And her virtues, if any, unknown and cule (Hotten).

unsung,

Cheeks—Cherry-merry-bamboo.

229

She'd a dangerous eye, and an eloquent tongue, And a cheek that was something sublime.

- Sporting Times. Also, share or portion. Cheeks (common), the posterior. Cheeky (common), impudent.

Boys give me a good deal of annoyance, they are so very cheeky.--Mayhew: Lon. don Labour and the London Poor. Cheese (society), “ quite the

cheese," varied to the “Stilton," or “real Stilton," synonymous with quite the thing, from the Hindostani or Anglo-Indian chiz, thing. Sometimes cheese is used as a derisive nickname for any man who has pretensions to being smart. (Schools), an adept; one boy will talk of another being an awful cheese at bowling, fives, Latin verses, &c. (R. M. Acadeiny), hard cheese, equivalent to “hard lines,” no luck; especially used at billiards. (Popular), cheese it, leave off. A corruption of cease. I was just entering upon one of my own composition, when, sir, I was vulgarly requested to cheese it. -Sporting Times.

(Thieves), “ cheese your barri. kin," hold your noise. (Ninepins), the ball. He sent the damaged cheese skimming and cannoning among the four great pins. -Greenwood : Tag, Rag, & Co. Cheese boxes (American), the nickname given by irreverent Confederates to the ironclads of the Monitor type then (at the time of the Civil War) just

invented. They, however, spoke even as disrespectfully of their own unsuccessful attempts at a similar class of vessel, calling

them “tinclads.” Cheese-cutter (common), an aqui.

line nose; also a large, square peak to a cap. Cheese-cutters,

bandy legs. Cheese-knife (army), sword. Cheesemongers, once a popular

name for the First Lifeguards

(Hotten). Cheese-toaster (army), a sword.

I'll drive my cheese-toaster through his body. - Thackeray: The Virginians. Cheesy (society), excellent, smart,

varied sometimes to “rare Stilton," which might be said to be

the square power of cheesy. Che - muck (American), food;

taken from the Indians of the North-West, and now current

among the miners. Cherpin llyower (tinker), book.

“ Cherpin appears to be vulgar. Llyower was on second thought declared by Owen to be the right word.” Gaelic, leabhar. - The Gypsies. Vide LYESKIN CHERPS,

telling fortunes. Cherry (thieves), a young girl. Cherry-bums (army). Vide BUM. Cherry-merry (Anglo-Indian), a

present of money. Cherry-merry-bamboo (Anglo-In

dian), a beating, a term probably invented by sufferers with very thick hides indeed.

This would lead to the Low Latin capitale (Skeat), but there is possibly a different root in common with the Westmoreland chat, a fragment, i.e., a

thing or bit. Chew (prison), a bit of tobacco.

A piece as large as a horse-bean, called a chew, is regarded as an equivalent for a twelve-ounce loaf and a meat ration.Greenwood : Gaol Birds at Large.

(American), to chew oneself, expressing vexation. Say, do you know it's fairly rank to be back at school. Could chew myself. I hate it so.-Springfield Republican.

Cherry pie (common), this term

was formerly used with the sense of the more modern

“ tart," or girl. Cherry-pipe (thieves), a woman.

Pipe is rhyming slang for ripe. Cherry-ripe (rhyming slang), a

pipe. Chestnuts (American and Eng.

lish), an exclamation used in reference to stale news.

The thing's got so bloomin' stale, I was afraid you'd yell chestnuts at me if I said anythin'.-Sporting Times. Chete (old cant), this word was

extensively used by the vagrant classes in reference to anything. Teeth were called “ cracking" or "crunching cheter," swine “grunting chetes," a knife a “cutting chete," or the gallows a “hanging" or a “topping chete." To strike some chete, to steal something.

This word is used as an affix in the formation of names (Turner), and is equivalent, not to the gypsy engro, which means an active agent, but to engree, denoting "a thing." Thus nab-chete, a hat, literally a head-thing; a cackling-chete, chicken; hearing - chetes, ears. Possibly of Gypsy-Indian origin in common with the Anglo-In. dian chiz, corrupted to chitz. Chit and chitter have also the meaning in gypsy of “a rag, a bit, a piece.” It may, however, be derived from the root of chattel ; M. E. chate, property (also cattle); Old French catel.

Chewgah bag (Australian black

fellows), the wild bee's store of

honey. Chewing the cud (common), the

habit of chewing tobacco. It is curious to note that amongst the farmers and stock-keepers of Surrey the cud is called a quid-hence perhaps "a quid of

tobacco." Chewing the rag or fat (army),

grumbling. Some of the “knowing blokes," promi. nent among whom will be the “grousers," will, in all probability, be chewing the rag or fat.-Brunices Patterson : Life in the Ranks. Chew it, to (cowboys), to eat. Chic (society), elegant, dashing,

perfect. French, chic. For the various significations of the French word, vide Barrère's “ Argot and Slang." One of the most chic functions of the present season in Paris was the dinner given last Wednesday by Princess Mathilde. The World.

Chice. Vide SHICE.

Chicken (Anglo-Indian), embroi

dery. Chicken-walla, a pedlar of embroidery. Persian, chikin, art needlework.

(Common), a term, applied to anything young, small, or insignificant; “chicken stakes,"

small paltry stakes (Hotten). Chicken - butcher (old slang), a

poulterer. Chicken fixings (American).

Bartlett defines this as chickenfricassee, but it is often used to denote chickens prepared in any way. The common expression “corn-bread and common doins, or wheat - bread and chickenfixins," intimates as much.

“ Beshdom adoi akonya,

Te sār mán ásti dikk
Sas kālo mūllo wongur

Te pāno, mūllo chikk""I sat there alone, and all one could see was black dead coals, and white dead ashes."

-0. Patteran. (Anglo-Indian), an abbreviation of chickeen, or four rupees. Children's shoes (popular), to

“make children's shoes,” to be

made nought of (Hotten). Chill, to (popular), to warm.

From the expression to “take the chill off ;” “chilled beer " for warmed beer is a very usual

term.
Chilo (pidgin-English), child.

Ping-Wing, he pie-man son,
He velly worst chilo allo Canton,
He steal he mother picklum mice,
An' thlowee cat in bilin rice.
Hab chow-chow up, an'“Now," talk he,
“My wonda' where he meeow-cat be !"

- The Song of Ping-Wing. Chimany, chummeny (gypsy);

something, anything. Dé mandy

chomany, “Give me something." Chiming (thieves), praising a

person or thing that is unworthy, for the purpose of

getting off a bad bargain. Chimleyco (popular), Pimlico.

If you're stopping
Down in Wapping,
Rotten Row, or Chimleyco.
-Song: There's a lot of fun in

London.

Chicken Nabob (old slang). If a

man returned from India with a larger fortune than £ 50,000 or £60,000 he was called a chicken nabob.

Chickerleary cove (coster), an

exceedingly sharp man. Chi-ike (roughs), a street salute,

a loud word of hearty praise, a
cheer.
Now join in a chi-ike-the

Jolly we all like,
I'm off with a party to the Vic.

-Vance : The Chicknleary Cove. Chi-iked (tailors), chaffed un

mercifully. Chik, chick (gypsy), dirt, clay, ashes, sand. Chikkli covras, objects of earthenware. Sār chikklo, all dirty.

Chimmel (tinker), a stick. Chimmes (tinker), wood or stick.

Vide CHIMMEL.

232

Chimney—Chinkers.

has always been familiarly used as it now is in the United States, not as an euphemism, but as the correct original Spanish word. It is remarkable that “bug” was originally a figurative and perhaps polite term for chinche.

Chimney chops (old slang), a

name given to a negro. Chimney-pot (common), a silk

hat. An excellent life-preserver may be made in a few seconds in the following manner : Lay a silk handkerchief on the ground and spread it open. Then place on it, brim downwards, a hat of the “chimney-pot sort," and tie the four corners of it together over the crown of it. The article so prepared may then be thrown to the drowning person; or, better still, it may be taken to him by some one that can swim.-Ross's Variety Paper. Chimney - sweep (common), a

black draught. Chin (American thieves), a child;

probably an abbreviation of kin. chen. (American), to chin, to chat. He was a worker, and liked nothing better than to get into a circle of young cow-punchers and chin and josh with them.--firancis : Saddle and Moccasin.

(Gypsy), to cut or write. This suggests the Indian cutting or graving all letters on palm-leaves, &c. (Hindu, chinh, a scar.)

Chinamāngri, a letter. Chinas (Stock Exchange), Eastern

Extension Telegraph Shares. China Street (thieves). Accord

ing to Vaux, China Street is a cant name for Bow Street, Covent Garden - where the celebrated police court is

situated. Chinche, chints, a bug. The

authors of the Anglo-Indian Glossary say that “this word is now quite obsolete both in India and England.” But it

Chin-chin (pidgin-English), a term

derived from the Mandarin (standard dialect) ts'ing, ts’ing ; Cantonese, ch'ing, ch'ing, equivalent to “thank you," or a polite "adieu" or salutation. In pidgin it is used for worship,

prayer, or to make a request. Chin-chopper (popular), a blow

under the chin. Chine, choon, chen chone

(gypsy), the moon. Chingarer, chingers (gypsy),

sparks. Hindu, chingi, spark. Chinger (gypsy), to tear, split,

scold, or quarrel ; through. Chingerben (gypsy), contrary,

opposite.
Chink (thieves), money.
At knock'emsdown and tiddlywink,
To be a sharp you must not shrink,
But be a brick and sport your chink.

-The Leary Man.
Chinkers (thieves), money.
Are men like us to be entrapped and sold,
And see no money down, Sir Hurly-Burly?
We're vile crossbow-men, and a knight are

you, But steel is steel, and flesh is still but flesh, So let us see your chinkers.

– Taylor : Philip Van Artevelde. Also handcuffs and shackles united by a chain.

Chin-music-Chiriclo.

233

Chin-music (English and Ameri.

can), talk, conversation. “I am not," he said, "going to orate. You did not come here, I guess, to hear me pay out chin-music."--The Golden Butterfly.

(Common English), talking, speechifying. But, bless yer, my bloater, it isn't all

chin-music, votes and “'Ear, 'ear!" Or they wouldn't catch me on the ready, or nail me for ninepence. No fear!

--Punch. Also chin play. Chinqua soldi (low theatrical),

fivepence. From the Italian. Chinse (Winchester College), a

chance. Chin-wag (common), officious

impertinence (Hotten). Chip (American journalism).

Local items in newspapers are
called chips, and sometimes
the term is applied to the re-
porter who collects them. It
was once suggested in a news-
paper office in Philadelphia that
the city reporters should be
called “five-six," and the local
editor, “seven-eight," in accor.
dance with the well - known
rhyme:-

Five, six-pick up chips ;
Seven, eight-lay them straight.

(American), to chip, to understand.

I knew at once that they had got scared, and had trenched up like a bevy of quails; so I said to Jim, “Now you let me do the talking, when they begin to sing

Indians' don't you chip?"- Francis : Saddle and Moccasin.

Chip in (American). Defined by

Bartlett as meaning to contribute. He gives no etymology for the word. It has also another meaning, i.e., to take shares in and contribute, as if ten men were all to chip in on any undertaking. Supposed to be derived from “chips,” the counters which represent money in gambling. As implying concealment, in a slangy sense, it probably was something to the gypsy chipper, to hide; Hindu, chipana. Tan chipáná, to hide

the body, i.e., one's self. Chipper (American), lively. Pos

sibly from “chippernigns," “chip-muk,” or “chip-munk,” a proverbially lively little squirrel. (Sicurus striatus, or striped

squirrel.) Chippy (common), unwell.

He was chippier than ever after a jam. boree of abnormal magnitude. -Sporting Times. Chips (popular), money. She admitted for me she might possibly

care. Chips, eh? I'm no mash for a tinker.

- Bird o' Freedom. Also a nickname for a carpenter. Chiriclo (gypsy), a bird. Romany

chiriclo, “the gypsy bird,” i.e., the water-wagtail. It is said that whenever one sees a waterwagtail he will soon after meet with gypsies. Kālo chiriclo, a blackbird or crow; sometimes pronounced chillico.

Chirki, shirki (gypsy), a star.

Chirki or shirki, a star in Romany, may possibly have something in common with the Persian chirkh, meaning the sky, or chiragh, a

lamp. Chirp, to (thieves and roughs), to

talk. I firmly resolved to chirp, when I was taken before the magistrate to give evidence, as little as possible.-J. Green. wood: The Little Ragamuffins.

Also to inform.
Chirper (journalistic), a singer.

The gentle damsel informed the votive vocalist that she could not sleep at nights through thinking about burglars, and con. templated purchasing a revolver. “Don't be rash," said the chirper.-Fun. Chirpy (American), cheerful, like

a lark, in fact. Chirruper (popular), an additional

glass. Chisel, to (common), properly to

cut close as in a bargain, &c., to cheat in a small way; for instance, to try to sell second-hand or soiled goods for new ones. (Winchester College), to cheat ; a chisel, a cheat.

(Pidgin-English), same. Empelo posha he name topside galantee chit (the Emperor wrote his name on a grand letter). — The Woolly Hen.

(Clubs), orders for drinks, &c., given at clubs. Chitterlings (old), the shirt frills

formerly fashionable. Chitti (gypsy), nothing, trifling. Chitty (tailors), an assistant cutter

or trimmer. Chitty - faced (popular), said of

one who has a childish look,

like a chit or infant. Chiv (gypsy) to put, place, fix,

throw. “ Chiv lis adré"_“ Put it in." “ Chív lis avri"_" Throw it away.” “Chivella o chiriclo adré lestis tan”-“She puts the bird into his cage" (i.e., "tent"). To goad, chase, drive about. In this sense probably from chiv, a sharp-pointed knife or goad. Hence, the English slang word, to “chivy.” “Chiv apré,” to put or throw up.

(Tinker and Romany), a pointed knife. In gypsy generally a churi. Beruna, gibel a chiv for the gentry cove. - Disracli: Venetia. Chive (thieves), a knife; from the

gypsy to chive, to stab. We had a fight and he put the chive into me.-Horsley : Jottings from Jail. Chive fencer (popular), a street

seller of cheap cutlery. Chivy (thieves), the face; to chivy,

to scold. Chlorhin (tinker), to hear.

Chit (Anglo-Indian), a letter, note,

certificate, or pass. It is remarkable that for nearly a century different writers in India speak of the habit of writing notes on all occasions, as if every person in the country were a Micawber.

These incessant chits are an immense trouble, but the ladies seem to like them. Letters from Madras (vide Anglo-Indian Glossary).

In prisons chokey refers speci. ally to the punishment cell.

(Anglo-Indian), a chair. Don't throw yourself back in your burra chokey and tell me it won't do.-Warren Hastings to G. Vansittart.

Also a police station, a custom or toll house. Hence watching or mounting guard is called chokey.

Choakee. See CHOKEY. Chocolate gale (nautical), a brisk

N.W. wind off the West Indies

and Spanish Main (Smyth). Choke-jade (turf), a dip in the

course at Newmarket a few hundred yards on the Cambridge side of the running gap in the

Ditch. Choke off, to (common), to get

rid of. “We are so terribly troubled with beg. gars. ..." "Don't know how to choke 'em off, my dear? Why, give 'em pudding crust, cake, and dumplings of your own making to be sure."-Fun. Choker (prison), a cell. Vide

CHOKI.

There was not a spare potato but what he seized as soon as the dinner tins were put outside the door by the prisoners, and as a rule he was summarily marched off to choker for stealing food intended for Her Majesty's pigs, Choker had no terror for this Chancery barrister-he rather liked it. -Evening News.

Also a garotter. (Common), a cravat. He looks when walking-pretty pet ! With gait still stiffer than his choker. As if he'd swallowed for a bet, Or by mistake, the kitchen poker.

-Ally Sloper's Half-Holiday. “White-choker,” a white tie. We have what Mugford calls a white choker dinner to-day.-Thackeray: The Adventures of Philip.

Also a clergyman. Chokey (popular and thieves),

prison. Vide OHOKI. And didn't a bobby claw 'old on me... and gits me a week in chokey, cos he said I was a priggin'.-H. Evans : The Brighton Beach Loafer.

Choki, or chokie, the guard-room.

The lock-up or prison for misconducted or drunken soldiers, which is part and parcel of the guard - house, and under the charge of the barrack guard; generally a dark, gruesome place, with no furniture but the guard bed, the “little soldat” of the French army, a standing wooden erection, fixed, and on a slope, with a raised wooden pillow at one end. It is the father of the plank bed, the only bed for short-term prisoners in modern prison disci. pline. Choki is Anglo-Hindustani, derived from chank, the market - place near the gate in which Orientals, like our mediævals, lodged their cap

tives. Chokidar (Anglo-Indian), a watchman; sometimes a police attendant.

Chokka (gypsy), shoe or boot.

Hindu, charka.

Chokra, chuckoroo (Anglo-In.

dian), a boy, a youngster, especially one employed about a household, or a regiment.

Chone (gypsy), the moon. Also
chen.
"Tu shan i chone odre o hev

Miri deari kameli rani,
Te waveri foki shan o bav

| Kun gáy'la tut fon mán 'y
“ The moon which passes o'er the sky,

My darling, seems like thee,
And other folk are but the clouds

That hide thy face from me.” Chonkeys (popular), explained by

quotation. Chonkeys are a kind of mince-meat baked in crust.-- Mayhew: London Labour and the London Poor. Choomer (gypsy), a kiss. Plural,

chūmya, kisses.
“Si miri chūmya shan kushti to hā

Tu nasti hatch bockalo, deari ajā"“ If kisses of mine were good to eat, You shouldn't go hungry long, my

sweet." Choops (Anglo - Indian), keep

silence; a corruption of choo

praho. Chootah (Anglo-Indian), small,

insignificant. Chop (pidgin and Anglo-Indian),

properly, a seal, stamp, or im-
pression. Used to indicate
quality, as in “first chop," i.e.
stamped or branded, or marked
as the best. Hindu, ch'hāp. It
is used on the Eastern seas also
for certificate, pass, license, sig-
nature. Chop-house, a custom-
house.
Wang he go to fi'st chop coffin,
To be mand'lin an' chin-chin um !

. -Wang the Snob. Chop, to (turf), to beat. Essex

dialect, chop, to flog. From chop or chap, to cut.

Another in John Dawson's stable is likely to be very handy here, and that one is Hawthorn, who created such a sensation when she chopped the mighty Salisbury at York the year before last.--Sporting Times.

(Sport), to outstrip, catch. A certain meet where, after chopping their fox, poor Reynard's carcass was "pinched" by a Brummagem rough.Bird o' Freedom. Chop-chop (pidgin), quick,

quickly, make haste, look sharp.
Cantonese, kåp - kūp; Man-
darin, kip.kip. “In the North-
ern dialects kwai-kwai, quick,
quick, is more usual" (Bishop
Moule).

That nightey tim begin chop-chop,
One young man walkee, no can stop,
Maskee snow, maskee ice,
He cally flag wit' chop so nice-
Top-side galow!

-Excelsior. Chopper, chopping blow (boxing),

a short, downward blow with the knuckles, delivered from the elbow. One of the most clumsy, ineffective, and most easily parried blows that could be resorted to. It was nevertheless a favourite with Slack (champion, 1750-60).

Chopper on (printers). A man

when miserable or “down in the dumps " is said to have a

chopper on. Choppy (American), applied to a

broken, hillocky county. Chops (popular), the mouth. A

“wipe in the chops," a blow on the face; "down in the chops," sad. Chops is a nickname given

tail of Virginia. An ante-breakfast.

The small meal commonly known in India as chota-hāsiri, and in our English colonies as Early Tea.-Waring : Tropi. cal Resident.

by schoolboys to one who has

well-developed maxillaries. Chör, chär (gypsy), grass. Hindu,

chara, fodder. Chore (gypsy), a thief, to steal.

“Kai did tute chore adovo?”— “Where did you steal that ?”

Hindu, chor, a thief. Chores (American), odd jobs. A “choreman” is a handy man, a Jack of all trades. Their carpenter was dead, and I am a handy man, so I took his place. Then I made a few dollars doing chores around. The Golden Butterfly.

Chouse (schools). It is a regular

chouse, signifies it is a great shame.

The boy . . . was told that what he had done was an awful chouse.—Brinsley Richards : Seven Years at Eton.

(Common), to chouse, to cheat out of one's share or portion. Supposed to be derived from the Turkish chiaous, an interpreter, on account of a gross fraud committed by one on

Turkish merchants in London. Chout (East End, London), an en

tertainment (Hotten).

Choring (Scottish thieves), steal.

ing. From the gypsy. While outside the cells he heard ... ask “What she was in for?" Maciver replied, “Choring, me and Maggie Devaney." He took that to mean stealing.-Scottish Newspaper.

Chovey (costermongers), a shop. Chovihani, chovihan (gypsy), a

witch, a wizard. Hindu, choihani. “Miri diri bibi ma kamāra būtidiro tevel chovihani”-“ My dear aunt, I would like to be. come a witch.”

Choro (gypsy), poor; also churero and chúridir, poorer. “Mandy's a churedo"_“I am a poor man.” This word is confused with choredo, one not of pure gypsy blood, and stolen; e.g., churedo or posh an' posh, half and half, also a poor person. “Oh, mandy shom choro te kālo;

Oh, mandy shom kek pensa rye"“Oh, I am poor and black; Oh, I am not like a gentleman."

-Gypsy Wooing. Chortle (popular), to howl.

Chowdar (Anglo-Chinese), a fool. Chow-chow (pidgin-English), to

eat, or food of any kind. This is the chief definition, but the word is also specially applied to a kind of sweet preserve made of many things, and has thence been somewhatincorrectly taken to mean a medley of trifles of any kind. Also chow-chow, “to have a meal.” In the Mandarin dialect chi.fan, showing that the

Chota-h a zry (Anglo-Indian),

"little breakfast;” refreshment taken early in the morning, corresponding to the auroral mint julep or pre-prandial cock

238

Chow-chow—Chucked.

radical of the word means to
eat, and not a mixture.

" Littee Jack Horna,
Makee sit inside corna,
Chow chow he Clismas-pie;

He puttee inside t'um."
We ate chow-chow with chopsticks on
the celestial restaurants.- Mark Twain:
Innocents at Home.

The word chow-chow is suggestive especially to the Indian reader of a mixture of things good, bad, and indifferent; of sweet little oranges and bits of bamboo stick, slices of sugar-cane and rinds of unripe fruit, all concocted together ... into a very tolerable confection.-Bombay Quarterly Review, 1858. Chowing or chipping (theatrical),

incessant talking, grumbling. Christening (thieves), christening

a watch is altering the name of

maker and number. Christians (Cambridge Univer

sity), a name given to the members of Christ's College,

Cambridge. Chuck (Westminster School), a schoolboy's treat.

(Military), mealy bread. (Nautical), hard chuck, sea biscuit. (Popular), explained by quotation.

A labourer will term a fellow he dislikes "a beggar who eats chuck," chuck being a low-priced part of the carcase. --Standard.

Also bread and meat.

(Common), the chuck, turning out of doors, dismissal.

And I shall get the blooming chuck as well as fourteen days.-Sporting Times. Chuck, to (popular), to eat.

Mo and his man were having a great breakfast one morning. ... Mo exclaimed

to his man, "Chuck rumbo (eat plenty) my lad.”—Hindley: Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack.

To turn out of doors, used specially in reference to drunken men forcibly ejected from publichouses.

There's one on 'em a-sitting next to me ... let's chuck him.--Sporting Times.

To chuck or chuck up, to give up the game or attempt, from the custom of throwing up the sponge at a prize fight.

The rest of us can chuck up work indefinitely.—Sporting Times. Chuck a fit, to (popular), to pre

tend to have a fit. He suddenly tumbled across Stephens and Pascal's “Words and Music for Children of all Ages," and he nearly chucked a fit when he saw that No. 9, described as a drinking song, was called “Ginger Beer," and in praise of that fluid 1-Sporting Times. Chuck and toss (popular), tossing

for halfpence.

They frequently had halfpence given to them. They played also at chuck and toss with the journeymen, and of course were stripped of every farthing.-Mayhew: London Labour and the London Poor.

Chuck a stall, to (thieves), ex

plained by quotation.

I said to my pal, “Chuck me a stall and I'll have that." What did I mean? Why, keep close to me, and cover what I'm doing.---Greenwood : Seven Years' Penal Servitude. Chuck churches (old slang), those

who dealt simoniacally in the sale of livings were so called.

Chucked prison), acquitted or

released. “7, or the chuck for

(Anglo-Indian), chucker, a quoit.

a clock," inscribed on a prison wall, meant that the writer expected seven years' penal servi. tude, if he was not acquitted, on the charge of stealing a watch. Rit from 7 dials; remanded innocent on two charges of pokes, only out 2 weeks for a drag, expects to be fullied or else chucked.- Horsley : Jottings from Jail.

(Popular), disappointed, thrown

out, sold, reproved. Chucked again, chucked again! Whatever may happen I get all the blame. Wherever I go, it is always the same Jolly well chucked again!

-Yardley : Chucked Again. Chucked in, into the bargain. Went to one on 'em yesterday, Charlie; a

regular old up and down lark. The Pallis free gratis, mixed up with a old

country fair in a park, And Rosherville gardens chucked in.

-Punch.

Chuck in (popular), to challenge ;

from the prize-fighting custom of throwing a cap into the ring.

Nearly obsolete. Chucking a curly (military),

going sick without cause. To “chuck" a fit is a common slang expression for counterfeiting one, and the curly may be traceable to the contortions and convulsions of the supposed sufferer, who is all curled up as he lies writhing on the bed or floor.

Chucking a jolly (costermongers), ironically praising a greenhorn, or the goods of a comrade.

Chucked up (prison), discharged

from jail. When I was chucked up they took me to an old Jew's in Dudley Street for my clothes. -Evening News. Chucker (cricketers), a bowler

who throws the ball instead of bowling it. Also one who volunteers to play, and does not keep his promise.

(Common), chucker, or chucker out, a waiter or potman whose

duty it is to turn drunkards out. "Tis midnight--the chucker his duty has

done ; In the gutter lies Liza-she's been in the "Sun."

--Sporting Times. Used figuratively. Lord Grey was about to resume his role of chucker out to the proposed measure of his own party.-Punch.

Chucking rocks (American),

throwing stones. Chuckle-head (popular), a man

with a large head, a dunce. Chuck-me-dos (bird fanciers), a

variety of singing-bird, in imitation of its notes

Talk about yer Middlesex rubbish, with their toll-loll-loll-kiss-me-dears; they don't touch yer reg'ler good chuck-me-dos by any number of chalks.-J. Greenwood: In Strange Company. Chuck the dummy, to (thieves),

to feign an epileptic attack or a fit. In prisons the expression applies to one who feigns an epileptic fit in order to be re

moved to the infirmary. Chuff it (popular), be off.

Chull (Anglo-Indian), make haste.

An abbreviation of the Hindo

stanee chullo, go along. Chummage, chumming-up (old),

a custom amongst prisoners before imprisonment for debt was abolished. When a fresh man was admitted to their number, rough music was made with poker, tongs, sticks, and sauce. pans. For this ovation the ini. tiated prisoner had to pay

(Hotten). Chummy (popular), chimney

sweep. Also a low-crowned

felt hat. Chump (popular), for chum.

Fancy, old chump, Me doing the sawdusty reglar, and foller. ing swells on the stump.

- Punch. A hard-headed fellow; the head. “Off his chump,” insane.

Old gentleman of his chump-runs away.-Sims : Social Kaleidoscope.

(American), a chump, a fellow, chap. We believe that he is the man to put on the turf with John L. with bare fists, and stop the big chump's noise.- New York National Police Gazette. Chump of wood (rhyming slang),

no good. Chunk (streets), explained by

Look here, pard, we've struck it this time; chunks of it!-- New York Star. Church, a term of endearment. “My church," my dear!

(Thieves), to “church a yack,” vide CHRISTENING. Churched (common), married.

“If it were not for the women, I fear few churches would be wanted.” “Of course not, there'd be no one to be churched."-Sporting Times. Chu-shung (pidgin), Chinese sheon

chu-shang, "you little beast" or “animal.” Often used jestingly in conversation with flower-boat girls.

She talkee, “Who men you come dis side? My pay you flog gum, sheon-chu-shang, you littee beasts - san-ne-ko-tow-my cuttee off your head !"— The Little Wife. Chuzzle, to (popular), cheat, cir

cumvent.
Cig (American), a cigar.
Dancing the jig,
Every fellow with a cig,
And a cig of confounded bad tobacco.

-Broadside. Cinch (American), to subdue, get

the better of, extort, impose upon. My father is wealthy, and I think I can cinch him for five hundred dollars.Denver Republican.

(Thieves), to put the screw on any one. Cincinnati olives (American),

pigs, because a large quantity of olive oil is manufactured out

of Cincinnati lard. Cinder (common), a dram of

spirits mixed with seltzer or

quotation. Here they gambol about like rabbits, until somebody raises the cry, “Nix! the chunk" (the slang term for School Board officer). - Thor Fredur: Sketches from Shady Places. Chunks (American), large quan

tity.

soda water. (Sporting), the cinder, the running path.

At Lords' wickets, or Lilley Bridge cinder.-Funny Folks. Cinder grabber (popular), a ser

vant maid. Circumbendibus (common), in a

roundabout way. A long yarn. Circus cuss (thieves), : circus

rider. City college (thieves), Newgate

prison. Civil rig (beggars), a trick of

beggars to obtain alms by over

civility. Civvies (army), a suit of civvies,

i.e., civilian's clothes. Clack (popular), the tongue,

speech; to clack, to talk idly,

to chatter. Clack box (common), a garrulous

person. Clacker (popular), talk, chatter,

also pudding or pie crust.

I hope we've got plenty of clacker for Christmas if we haven't got anything else. -Rare Bits. Clack-loft (popular), a pulpit. Cladder (old), a male flirt. Claggum (popular), boiled treacle

hardened. From "clog." Claim (Australian and American),

a miner's allotment.

The hill is systematically honey.combed with claims old and new.-L. Work: Australian Printers' Keepsake.

(Thieves), to claim, to steal.

Clam butcher (American), a man

who opens clams. Clank (thieves and tramps), a

tankard.

Tip me the clank, like a timber-mort as you are.—Disraeli: Venetia. Clanker (old cant), silver plate. Clapper (popular), the tongue;

more especially that of a loqua

cious person. Clapper-dudgeon (old cant), a

beggar born. Claras (Stock Exchange), Cale

donian Railway stock.
For we have our Sarahs and Claras,
Our Noras and Doras for fays.

-Atkin: House Scraps. Claret (pugilistic), a term which has become general for blood.

If you spill One drop of his claret that's not in your

bill, I'll hang you. By jingo! I will

--Ingoldsby Legends. To tap the claret, to draw blood. Claret-jug (pugilistic), now com

mon for the nose. What, oh what's the meaning of that

chappie's blackened eyes? On his claret-jug, I ask you, what's that variegated rise ?

- Bird o' Freedom. Classy, clashy (Anglo-Indian), a

common sort of person, a tent

pitcher, a chain-bearer. Claw (prison), a lash of the cat-o'.

nine tails.

Oh! cuss that old Kerr, who condemned me to twenty-five claws with the cat. -- Greenwood: A Night in a Work. house.

242

Claw-hammer-Clicker.

Claw-hammer (common), dress

coat. In French slang, queue de pie, or sitjlet.

The black claw-hammer coat was generally worn.-Standard. Claws for breakfast (prison), a

humorous expression for the infliction of the cat, which usually takes place in the morning.

... A ruffian being uncertain as to the morning when he is to have, as he himself would say, claws for breakfast, is in the habit of lying night after night in a sweat of terror.-Greenwood: In Strange Com pany. Clean (thieves), expert, smart. In

French, un soldat propre is a smart soldier. Clean out, to (common), to take

or win all one has; to ruin.

Ah!... he has cleaned me out, but I can go and earn some more when I like. Dickens : Oliver Twist. Clean skin (Australian), the term

for unbranded and wild-bred cattle which have escaped to the scrubs.

In such a country it was perfectly hope. less to dream of getting any of the clean skins home to the yards.-Finch Hatton : Advance Australia.

Let hatter, tailor, fellahs wait,
A wife with cash will cican the slate.

-Ballad : Tra la la. Clear (thieves), drunk. Clear crystal (popular), spirits

generally, but more correctly

probably gin or whisky only. Cleave (old slang), one that will

cleave is said of wanton and forward women, such as would throw themselves at a man without waiting for favour to be

asked of them. Clerked (old), imposed upon. Clerk's blood (old), red ink. A

common expression of Charles

Lamb's. Clever - shins (schools), a sly

fellow. Cleymans (old cant), artificial

sores made by beggars to im

pose upon people. Click (popular), a blow; to click, to snatch.

Clicks in the gob, blows on the mouth. ... What with clouts on the nob, Home hits in the bread basket, clicks in the gob.

-Moore : Tom Crio's Memorial. Clicker (printing), a person in a

printing-office who is at the head of a certain number of compositors for a particular division of work or otherwise. It is also used in the shoemak. ing trade. (Trade), a female touter at a bonnet-shop, or the servant of a salesman who stands at the door. (Popular), a knockdown blow,

Clean straw (Winchester College),

clean sheets. Formerly the beds had a straw mattress,

hence the expression. Clean the slate, to (popular), to

pay off all debts. And everything comes right some day. Though “thirty-five per cent." is hot, "Tis cheap when pa pays all the

shot!

Clift-Clod-crushers.

243

Clift, to (thieves), to steal. Clinch (popular and thieves), to

get the clinch, to be imprisoned. Clincher (general), a settler. Clink (military), another term for

guard-house, derived evidently from the Clink, one of the ancient London prisons, that of Westminster. Sir Walter Scott, in “Peveril of the Peak,” makes Jem Clink one of the warders in Newgate.

(Thieves), plate. He wouldn't have been hobbled but the melting-pot receiver proved his selling the clink to him.-G. Parker: Variegated Characters. Clinker (common), any thing or

person that is first-rate, equivalent to a "stunner.”

The yellow-haired girl at the bar. A clinker, ain't she? gave me these (cigars), and they are 'orrid bad.-Ward or Wife.

(Thieves), a chain. Clinkerum (old), the gaol. From

the old prison called the “Clink.” Clink-rig (thieves), stealing tan

kards from public-houses. Clipper (general), something very

good, very fast, above the average. Derived from the swiftsailing ships called opium and tea clippers.

There must be a new horse bought, not a knacker's sort of horse, mind yer, but a regler clipper; a chestnut; goes like steam, Sam ses it do."-). Greenwood: The Little Ragamuffins. Clipping (general), excellent.

A “clipping ball,” a “dipping good chap.” Vide CLIPPER.

Clishpen (tinker), to break by

letting fall. Clisp (tinker), to fall; let fall. Cloak-twitchers (old cant), thieves

who robbed passers-by of their cloaks. The old French tirelaine. Clobber (popular and thieves),

clothes. A corruption of that word, with a change of syllable.

If you are hard up always tell the dear things that you are a gentleman's valet. This will account for your good clobber.Sporting Times.

Next morning I got up about seven, and went home to change my clobber, and put on the old clobber to work with the kipsy. -Horsley : Jottings from Jail. Clobbered up (popular and vul.

gar), dressed up. “D'you know, if you were clobbered up I shouldn't mind taking you out?" She promised to be presentable. In her own words, she said, “I'll come clobbered up like a dukess."-Fun.

(Theatrical), patched up; shabby-genteel get up.

Clock (English and American), a

watch. When you have the clock safe in your hand, break the little ring that holds it to the chain, using both hands to do it, and then drop the sucker (victim) into his chair (seat) again, and say, “Wait here till I bring you a cab.”—Philadelphia Press. Clock - calm (nautical), perfect

calm. Clod - crushers (American), an

epithet used by Americans to describe the large feet which they believe to be the characteristics of Englishwomen as

244

Clod-crushers— Cloyer.

compared with those of their own country, an opinion shared by other foreign critics as well; but in reality the question is one that rests wholly on the art of the shoemaker, and it is a fact that English ladies of fashion (who generally show greater regard for the appear. ance of their nether extremity, from the garter downward, than their more humble and plain sisters usually do) can favourably compare, in that respect at least, with any of the dainty, neat-ankled, light-tripping ones of New York or Paris. At any rate they take more wholesome exercise in the fresh air, and if they fail to satisfy to the same extent the eye of the artist or the voluptuary, they are able to walk greater distances without groaning at every step, and decidedly have the advantage at “crushing clods."

(Common), large feet. Cloister-roush (Winchester Col.

lege). Formerly in cloistertime two halves of the school used to rush from the ends of the school at each other. To run "cloisters": when a man in junior part is put into senior part without passing through the middle one he is said to “run cloisters.” Clothes, coloured (army), plain

clothes as distinguished from uniform. More particularly in the infantry; and the expression “coloured” is probably ironical, plain clothes, or mufti, being as

a rule less strongly coloured than the crimson livery of the Queen. The expression has official sanction, however, and is often used at courts-martial, when a prisoner is charged with having "absented himself without leave, until apprehended in

coloured clothes,'" &c. &c.out of uniform, that is to say. Clothes - pin (American), that's

the sort of clothes-pin I am, i.e.,

that's the sort of man I am. Cloth-market (old), a term for a

bed, quaint but not slang. Miss, your slave: I hope your early ris. ing will do you no harm: I find you are but just come out of the cloth-market.Swift: Polite Conversation.

An old French corresponding term is halle aux draps. Cloud-cleaner (nautical), an ima.

ginary sail carried by a Yankee

bottom. Clout (common), a blow. A

“clout in the chops," a blow on the face. (Thieves), a pockethandkerchief.

Clouting (thieves), stealing hand

kerchiefs.

Clow (Winchester College), a box

on the ears; to clow, to box one's ears.

Clower (old cant), possibly allied

to the Gaelic cliah, a basket; termed "kipsy" by English thieves.

Cloyer (old cant), one who at

tempted to share in the profits

slang, kleifokker is a thief who wanders about, derived from fokker, one who goes about, and kleif, silver. Vide CLY. Cly-faking (thieves), picking

pockets. Vide FAKE. “What is cly-faking?" ... "Why, a prigging of wipes, and sneeze-boxes, and ridicules, and such."-H. Kingsley: Ravenshoe.

of a robbery or a swindle in which he bore no part.

Then there's a cloyer or snap, that dogs any new brother in the trade, and snaps ; and will have half in any booty.-Roaring Girl: Sixteenth Century. Club, to (military), to get a party

of men or troops into a confused mass through a blunder when

maneuvring. Cly (thieves), pocket.

To his clies my hooks I throw in, and collar his dragons clear away. — W. Maginn: Vidocq's Slang Song.

Old cant, clye, to take, to seize, from old English cleyes, claws. Cly is provincial for money. To take, steal, money, pocket seem to be interchangeable terms in various slang languages.

Clu in old cant had also the signification of sack, basket, possibly from Gaelic cliah, basket.

Clye, cly, to (old cant), to take,

to seize. Gerry gan, the ruffian clye thee.-T. Harman: Caveat.

To cly off, to carry away. Here safe in our skipper let's cly off our

peck, And bowse in defiance o'th' Harman-beck.

-Broome: Jovial Crew. Also cly, to steal. Cly-faker (thieves), a pickpocket.

They were gentlemen sharpers, and not vulgar cracksmen and cly.fakers.-Lytton : Pelham.

This may be from cly, a pocket, as suggested, but it is worth noting that in Dutch thieves'

Cly the jerk, to (old cant), to

stand in the pillory. Coach (university and public

school), the private tutor by whose aid a student is “driven ” through his examination at the university. It is now no longer peculiar to the university. He was a student at Christ Church and a Fellow of Merton, and in early life was a very successful coach at Oxford. -The World.

A tutor not connected with a college is sometimes termed a “rural coach.”

(General and sport), to coach, toinstruct, to “drive,” to prepare a man for an examination; a word which has now almost attained to a recognised place in the language.

I coached him before he got his scholarship; he ought to have taken honours before Easter, but he was ill.-G. Eliot: Deronda.

Also to instruct in physical acquirements, such as boating, &c. He had already been down several times in pair-oar and four-oar boats, with an old oar to pull stroke, and another to steer and coach the young idea.—T. Hughes : Tom Brown at Oxford.

Cob (popular), a piece of bread baked in a round form for dinner.

(English prisons), a dark pun. ishment cell.

Coaching (common), instructing.

An almost recognised word.

There is no sport which is healthier ... than rowing under proper coaching and supervision. -Standard.

(Rugby), a flogging. Coach-wheel (popular and

thieves), a crown piece; French

slang roue de derrière. Coal, cole (common), money ;

"post the cole," put down the

money. Coaling (theatrical), a coaling

part, a part which is popular with the audience--one which elicits great applause; coaling lines, telling speeches.

It was customary some years ago, when a young actor achieved a success in a part of this character, for some ancient idiot to put a piece of coal in the youngster's dressing-place. One fails to see the fun of this.

Hotten says coaling, profitable, very good, is derived from coal, money. Coals (common), to “pull over the coals," to scold. (Nautical), to “take one's coals in," to

catch a venereal disease. Coal-scuttle (American), a nick

name for the peculiar bonnet worn by Quakeresses, which was exactly the shape of an oldfashioned coal-scuttle. Some years ago coal-scuttle bonnets were worn in England. Vide Leech's sketches.

There was Miss Snevellici . . . glancing from the depths of her coal-scuttie bonnet at Nicholas.--Dickens : Nicholas Nickleby.

Cob, to (schoolboys), to catch or

detect. Cob is probably a corruption of the cant word “cop," from the gypsy kap.

(Popular), to deceive, humbug. Cobble-colter (tramps and gyp

sies), a turkey.

Come, old mort, tout the cobble-colter. ... And Beruna, flick the panam.Disraeli: Venetia. Cobbled (schoolboys), caught or

detected. Cobbled is a variation

of “cobbed.” Vide To COB. Cobbler (Australian Shearers'

slang), the last sheep. · This term is very widely spread in Victoria. It is a pun of the shearers. The cobbler is the man with the last, and therefore they

call the last sheep the cobbler. Cochineal dye (pugilistic), blood.

He would kindly inquire of one gentleman, “What d'ye ask for a pint of your cochineal dye?"-C. Bede: Verdant Green. Cock (racing), “a cock horse,"

properly a child's rocking-horse, is a horse kept in the betting quotations to deceive public backers, though known to the private layers against him that he has no chance of winning.

(Tailors), a good cock, one who thoroughly understands how a garment should be made. A poor cock, the reverse.

(Thieves), an abbreviation of "cockney."

(Pugilistic), a man knocked out of time; used in the phrase “knocked him a cock.” From the expression “to knock into a cocked hat."

(Printers), vide JEFF and THROW. When throwing or jeffing, should one or more of the nine quadrats not fall flat, but lodge crosswise on another, it is termed a cock, and the thrower is allowed another turn or chance.

(Popular), to cock, to smoke (Hotten).

Cock a ball, to (cricketers), to

throw a ball under-handed.

Cock-a-brass (old cant), a con

federate of card-sharpers who remains outside the publichouse where they are operating. When they have left, cock-a-brass protects their retreat by misleading statements to the victim on the direction taken by them.

Cock and pinch. The old beaver

hat cocked back and front, and

pinched at the sides. Cockatoo (Australian up-country).

Also cockatoo farmer or settler, a small settler. Sometimes termed cocky. So called to compare them with the common sulphur-crested white cockatoos, which come down on the newly sown cornfields in myriads.

The cockatoo settlers or free selectors fight desperately for the privilege of picking out any piece of land they may fancy. -Grant: Bush Life in Queensland.

A cockatoo fence is one on a cockatoo's farm.

The trees themselves, ... woven with their branches into the stout cockatoo fence. — Blackwood's Magazine: C. T., Impressions of Australia. Cocked hat (common), “knocked

into a cocked hat," completely beaten, smashed, out of shape. Cocked his toes (thieves), dead. Cocked it (tailors), examined it,

saw it, spoke of it. Cocker (low), my cocker, my good

fellow. “I'm on, my cocker," I sez. “Giv' us your 'and on it, my pippin, and arf a quid on account.”-H. Evans : The Brighton Beach Loafer. Cock-eye (popular), one who

squints. Cockles (popular), more a vulgar

ism than slang. Literally the

wrinkles. In Bermondsey not long ago there lived a

little dame; She was the cockles of my heart, and Nancy was her name.

- Nancy Fancied a Soldier.

Cock-a-hoop (common), in high

spirits; alluding to a victorious cock crowing. This is borne out by the French, “se dresser sur ses ergots,” to be elated or to look proud and defiant.

Cock and hen club (common), a

free and easy gathering where persons of both sexes are admitted. One composed exclusively of males is a “stag party,” whereas a gathering of females who do congregate for the purpose of drinking tea and gossiping is termed a “cat party."

248

Cockneyshire-Cocum.

Cock-sure (popular), certain, con

fident. Probably an abbreviation of “cocky-sure," i.e., confi. dent, as a “cocky" fellow. It has been suggested that the origin ought to be sought in the old practice of cock-throwing. Shakespeare uses the expression in the sense of “sure as the cock of a fire-lock.” We steal as in a castle, cock-sure. ... We walk invisible.-Henry IV.

Cockneyshire (tailors), London. Cock-quean, a female cuckold, or

a wife whose husband goes with other women. A beggar or

cheat (Wright). Queene June, not a little wroth against

her husband's crime, By whome she was a cock-quean made.

-Warner: Albion's England. Cockrobin shop (printers), a small

printing office where common work is done, and where labour is badly paid for, is usually described as such. From the fact that some cheap printers were noted for the issue of fly-leaves, on which were printed stories, such as the “Death of Cock

Robin."
Cocks (common publishing slang).

According to Hotten, “fictitious
narratives in verse or prose of
murders, terrible accidents, &c."
They are the topical legends of
the street. The suggestion that
the term is derived from a
“cooked ” statement is very far-
fetched ; that it came from a
“cock and bull story” is at least
ingenious. It is possible, though
not proved, that, as these nar-
ratives were originally chiefly
sung in a dull chant, the pro-
verbially wearisome and mono.
tonous songster, the cuckoo,
gave the original name to these
cock-minstrels and their wares.
The Dutch say of such a voca-
list, “Hy zingt den Koekeeks
zang," he sings the cuckoo's
song-—"he harps always upon
the same string."

(Pugilistic), blows.

Cock-up (printers), a term for

superior letters or figures, such as used for abbreviations, i.e.

“Mr.” or “A?,” &c. Cocky (common), saucy. Cocky. Vide COCKATOO. Cocoa-nut (common), the head.

French slang, le coco. Cocum (common London slang,

also Yiddish). In Hebrew chochum, chochem, or cochem, crafty, learned, wise, or a wise man. According to Hotten the English slang term means shrewdness, ability, luck. “Jack's got cocum," he's safe to get on. Among themselves German thieves call one another by this name. Mr. Hotten does not recognise any Hebrew origin for the word, and suggests that it is “allied to the Scottish keek and German gucken, to peep or pry into.” In Yiddish cochemer or cochem, pronounced almost like cocum, means wisdom ; cochumwirth, a thieves' landlord ; cochmas Schlaumauch, the wisdom of Solomon.

“Wie grau seinen deine werk, got, ale hastu gemacht mit chochmah, die welt is vul deine akufte, du hast sei beschafen.”Polish-German Yiddish Translation of the 104th Psalm, cited by Grünbaum.

(Theatrical), wariness, to “fight cocum," to be cautious.

(Booksellers), a sliding scale of profit in the book trade in cases where the books are not marked, according to your

customer. Cod (popular), a fool; to cod,

to chaff, hoax. An idiom im-
ported from the sister isle.
She threw a plaice right in my face,

And told me to depart.
I thought that she was codding me,

And told her I should stop.
She lifted up her lovely foot,
And kicked me out of the shop.

-Barrett: Old Jones's Gal.
(Thieves), a purse. Gaelic
cod, a bag.

(Tailors), a drunkard; on the cod, drinking and neglecting work. From coddle, a pro

vincialism for to indulge. Codd (Charterhouse), probably

from codger, an old pensioner.

Yonder sit some threescore old gentlemen, pensioners of the hospital, ... the Cistercian lads called these old gentlemen codds.- Thackeray: The Newcomes. Codding (Irish schoolboys), non

sense, humbug, chaff. Coddom (popular), explained by

quotation.

The convicts take advantage of that to the extent sometimes of playing a gam. bling game called coddom. It is simple enough. They play three or four a side, the implement being a button or a peculiarshaped small piece of stone, “guess

whose hand it is in " being the principle. -). Greenwood : Seven Years' Penal Servitude.

Hotten gives "coddam, a public-house game, much affected by medical students and

cabmen." Codging job (tailors), a garment

to repair. Cofe (old cant), fellow.

What, stowe your bene, cofe.-T. Har. man: Cavcat. Coffee-mill (common). The mouth

is so termed, but the phrase is rarely heard now, having given place to others.

(American), explained by quotation.

One of the old pattern Colts, with the barrels revolving; the ancient coffee-mill or “pepper-box." —H. L. Williams : Buffalo Bill.

French slang has moulin à café for a mitrailleuse. Coffee-shop (popular), the W.C.

Also a coffin. Coffin-ships (nautical), any leaky

cranky unseaworthy vessels. Cog(old cant), a tooth. (Sharpers),

to cog, tocheat at dice. (Schools), to cheat at examinations by using cribs or other sources of information. A perfectly recognised word in the sense of deceive, cheat generally; hence

cogs, loaded dice. Coge, or coag it, to (American),

according to Bartlett, refers to the habitual and excessive use of ardent spirits. Cogue, to drink

drams (Wright). From provin

cial English cogue, a dram. Coguing the nose (nautical),

making comfortable over hot negus or grog. From provin

cial English cogue, a dram. Coker. Vide CLANKER. Cold blood, a house licensed for

the sale of beer “not to be drunk on the premises ” (Hotten). Cold coffee (common), misfortune.

(Oxford), a trumpery affair. Cold comfort (traders), said of

articles sent out on approval

and returned. Cold cook (popular), an under

taker (Hotten). Cold deck (American), a prepared

pack of cards, played on a green

board. Cold meat (popular), a corpse. Cold meat box (popular), a coffin. Cold pig (popular), a dash of cold

water to waken an indolent servant or lazy person in the morning. He never threw cold water over her when she was in bed. Mr. Justice remarked that no doubt many of them knew what cold pig was.- Daily News.

(Thieves), a person who has been robbed of his clothing. A corpse.

(Commercial), returned goods. Cold shake (American), a cold

period of weather, also used sometimes in reference to fever

and ague. As a figure of speech it is applied to cold and reserved conduct. “It gives me the cold shakes just to look at hershe's so frozen up an' digner

fied.” Cold tea (common), brandy. In

use also during the last century. The Spectator, Tatler, and Guar. dian often allude to a “keg" of

cold tea. Cold thing (American cadet), to

have a cold thing, to have a certainty, to be entirely confident

of anything. Cold water army (common), a

facetious name given to the fraternity of teetotallers. An old stager was compelled by his worthy spouse to join the cold water army, which he did, promising not to touch a drop of anything except in sickness. He has never been well since. -Diprose : Modern Joe Miller. Cold without (common), spirits

with cold water and without sugar.

I laugh at fame. Fame, sir ! not worth a glass of cold without.-Lytton: My Novel. Cole (popular), money. Vide

COAL Moreover, the whole of the said cash or

cole Shall be spent for the good of the old woman's soule.

-Ingoldsby Legends. Colfabis, a Latinized Irish

phrase, signifying the closet of decency, applied as a slang term to a place of resort in Trinity College, Dublin.

Colinderies—Colours.

251

Colinderies (society), modern

term for the Colonial Exhibition,

used as an abbreviation. Colla, cullo (gypsy), a thing,

things. “Chiv yer cullos adre the wardo”-“Pitch your things

into the waggon!” Collar (common), “out of collar,"

out of cash, not in training; a phrase borrowed from the stable. Also out of work.

A decent allowance made to seedy swells, head robbers, and flunkeys out of collar. (Slang advertisement.)

To collar, to seize, to steal.

(Thieves), “to collar his dragons," to steal his sovereigns. Collar day (old), hanging day. Collaring the big bird (theatri

cal), getting hissed. An allusion to a goose's mode of ex

pressing angry dissatisfaction. Collar work (common), hard

work; an uphill journey. And when Lucca was reached there were still fourteen miles, nearly all collar work, between that and the baths.-Trol. lope: What I Remember. Collector (old cant), a street

robber. Colleger (University and schools),

the square cap worn by university men, or by boys at public

and other schools. Colley (theatrical). Actors and

others connected with the stage speak of the columbine as

colley. Colly-wobbles (popular), rumb

lings in the intestines; the

belly-ache. A probable origin is colic-wobbles, the latter word from to wobble, i.e., to shake from side to side. But it should be noted that colly is a provincialism for anything irregular,

uneven, wrong. Colo (pidgin), cold.

Hab lib in colo land,

Hab stop where we belong,
What tim much solly in-i-sy (inside,

in her heart),
She makee dis sing song.

-The Princess in Tartary. Colonial (Australian and Ameri

can), unsettled, because in the early days of the colonies men dressed and behaved unconventionally, and life and property were by no means so secure as they are now. Also rude, rough, ungainly, awkward, used in this sense more in England than in Australia. An Englishman will say very or thoroughly colonial

in a contemptuous way. Colours (prize ring), the handkerchiefs, displaying some definite colour or pattern, chosen by prize-fighters as their distinguishing badges on the day of a contest. The third “rule of the ring," as revised by the Pugilistic Association, lays down:-“That every man shall be provided with a handkerchief of a colour suitable to his own fancy, and that the seconds proceed to entwine these bandkerchiefs at the upper end of one of the centre stakes of the ring; that these handkerchiefs shall be called the colours, and

that the winner of the battle at its conclusion shall be entitled to their possession as the trophy of victory."

There was, among the greater favourites, the “bird-eye" wipe, the wipe or handkerchief of any colour with spots, but generally with white ground and blue spots; the "blood-red fancy," all red; the "yellow man,” all yellow; the "yellow fancy," yellow with white spots; the "cream fancy," with coloured pattern on a white ground ; the “blue Billy," with a white pattern on a blue ground; and many more. Among the colours specially associated with the names of pugilists are the “Belcher" (Jem, the champion), dark blue ground with a spot in the middle of darker hue, and large white spots; the “Randal's man," green, with white spots; “King's man," green, with yellow pattern.

(Australian miners), originally the gold visible after washing, either good or poor colour, as the case may be, but the expression is generally used that there is just enough to show

the presence of gold. Colquarron (old cant), a person's

neck. From cole, Anglo-Norman for neck, and quarron, cant for body. Vide QUARRON. Colt, a juryman at his début; properly a person without experience. (Cricketers), a young inexperienced player, a pro

fessional at his first season. (Thieves), a young thief. (Popular), to colt, to make one pay for his footing. Hotten gives the definition “to make a person free of a place, which is done by his standing treat, and submitting to be struck on the sole of the foot with a piece of board.” This is a relic of the old London 'prentice days, when it was an exaction of money, usually spent in ale, termed colt ale, paid by an apprentice at the commencement and expiration

of his apprenticeship. Colt - man (American), a man

who keeps horses specially for

burglars. Columbine (theatrical), a prosti

tute. Columbus (theatrical). One would

have thought that this illustrious navigator would naturally be associated with some new and successful discovery, nevertheless a “regular Columbus" is synonymous with hopeless

“frost,” or utter failure. Comb-brush (old), a lady's maid.

The maid who at present attended on Sophia was recommended by Lady Bellas. ton, with whom she had lived for some time in the capacity of a comb-brush. Fielding: Tom Jones. Comb-cut (common), mortified,

like a cock disgraced by the deprivation of his comb.

Comb down, to (Australian), to ill-treat, thrash. Like the French “donner une peignée."

Combing—Commission.

253

... Narrating how he had copped the old - on the hop and combed him down to rights.-A. C. Grant. Combing the cat (nautical), the

boatswain, or other operator, running his fingers through the cat-o'-nine-tails to separate them

(Smyth). Comb the hair, to (common), to

scold; French “laver la tête."

The process called combing his hair for him is said not to be uncommon in married circles.-Globe.

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Come down to (common), to pay.

Do you keep the gentleman in discourse while I speak to the prisoner and see how he can come down. -Johnston: Chrystal. Come it over, to (popular), to

deceive by wheedling, to rule by assumption of superiority or otherwise. Don't try to come it over me like your sister comes it over you.-Greenwood : Almost Lost. Come it, to (thieves), to inform ;

also to be quiet.

He heard one of the others say in reply, “Come it," meaning to tell--to be quiet.Daily Teleg

(Pugilistic), to show fear. Come on (turf), said of a horse

that has improved, is in good form. He was at one time last year a few pounds in front of - and if he has come on, that form would give him a consider able charm. -Bird • Freedom. Come souse, to (pugilistic), to

fall. As it was, Master Georgy came souse with

the whack,

Coming it strong (popular), carry

ing things to an unreasonable degree; exaggerating. He here shook his head-right little he

said, But he thought she was coming it rather too strong.

-Ingoldsby Legends. Coming the old soldier (popular),

to trick one by false representations, such as are made by a rogue who pretends to be an old soldier. Permit me, if you and your two friends think of coming what is vulgarly called the old soldier over me, to make you understand that you had better abandon the intention.-J. Greenwood : Dick Temple. Commission (old cant), a shirt ;

Italian, camicia. In more modern slang a "mish.”

254

Commister-Compradore.

Clean linen yields a shirt before we rise, Which is a garment shifting in condition; And in the canting tongue is a commission,

-Taylor's Works. Commister. Vide CAMISTER. Common bounce (prison), one who makes accusations of unnatural crime, employing lads as decoys.

To do most professional thieves justice, they never speak of these unique wretches except in terms the most contemptible.Michael Davitt : Leaves from a Prison Diary. Common doings (Americanism),

plain, wholesome fare, as distin

guished from dainties. Commoner (old cant), a novice;

greenhorn. Commoner grub (Winchester Col

lege), a dinner given by college to commoners when cricket matches are over. Commonise, to (Oxford Univer.

sity). Two or more are said to commonise when they have their meals together. Commonising means strictly that each should

bring his “commons.” Common jack (army), low prosti

tutes are thus termed by the military in Woolwich, and pro.

bably in other garrison towns. Common plugs (American), the

common rut of mankind—the οι πολλοί--Sometimes the great unwashed, but more commonly very ordinary people indeed, neither the big wigs nor the dregs of society. Many will meet us in the depths of the forest and go away thinking that we are

just common plugs, of whom the world wots not; but there is where they fool themselves.- New York Mercury. Communicator. Agitate the com

municator, ring the bell. communion bloke (prison), a

religious hypocrite. He was a communion bloke. This was the pious gentleman. -Evening News. Comp. (printers). Vide GALLEY

SLAVES. Generally applied to compositors as an abbreviation, but originally the short term for companion used both by pressmen, who work in pairs, and by compositors who work in companionships; nowadays accepted as the abridgment of

compositor only. Comped (printers), set up or com

posed matter ; abbreviation of

word composed. Competition wallah (Anglo-In

dian), members of the Civil Service who have entered it by the competitive system.

The competition wallah . . . dins perpetually in our ears the greatness of India.-Saturday Review. Compo. (printers), abbreviation

for the composition of which printing rollers are madeprincipally of treacle and glue. (Nautical), a sailor's monthly

wages. Compradore (pidgin), from the

Portuguese comprador, a pur. chaser. Formerly used in India, where it originated, now in general use only in Chinese. English. The comprador of the 255

Compradore-Conscience.

present day is a steward or but-
ler, who manages all the house.
hold affairs, supplying by con-
tract, not only furniture and
provisions, but even servants.

An' Massa Coe feel velly sore,
An' go an' scold he compladore;
An'compladore all hollor shook,
Lun dunny stairs an' bang he cook.

-Mary Coe. Compresado (gypsies), an in

former,

Con (Winchester), from kovdulov,

a knuckle-a blow on the head given by the knuckles or any

hard substance. Concaves and convexes (card

sharpers), cards cut in a partiticular way, and thus contrived

for cheating. Conchers (up-country Australian),

tame or quiet cattle. Condog (popular), to agree with.

A variation from concur. Confab (society), conversation,

generally of a private nature. Confederate (Texas), “you're

mighty confederate," a phrase used by a Texan when he wishes to express the strongest possible approval of some sentiment or

thing. Confidence dodge or buck (common), explained by extract from Daily Telegraph :

“... Swindled him out of his watch and chain by means of that ten thousand times repeated rogue's device, the confidence trick. It was the

old game pure and simple -the threadbare hocus-pocus of inviting the victim, a perfect stranger, to come and have a drink,' and while the friendly glass is being discussed in comes another man, who joins in the conversation, and, in a casual way, mentions that he has just inherited several thousand pounds, and that, as a thank-offering, he should like to give away, by deputy, a few hundreds to the deserving poor, and is ready to hand over the largess there and then to any person who can show to his satisfaction that he is of an unsuspicious disposition; the same to be proved by his entrusting the money and jewellery he may happen to have about him to his, the benevolent legatee's, keeping, while the latter goes away for half-an-hour or

so with the same.” Congee, conjee (Anglo-Indian),

rice water; from the Tamil

kañshi, "boilings.” Conk (common), nose.

His " dexter ogle" has a “mouse;"
His conk's devoid of bark.

---Atkin : House Scraps. “Conky" is a nickname given by schoolboys to one with a prominent nose. The great Duke

was called “Old Conky.” Conscience (theatrical), a kind of

association in a small company for the allotment of shares in the profits, &c. The man who is lucky enough to have a con

256

Conscience—Conveyer.

cern of his own, generally a very small affair, however badly he may act, must be the leading man or first low comedian, perhaps both. He becomes the manager, of course, and thus has one sbare for “fit-up," one for scenery, one and a half for management, one for wardrobe, one and a half as leading man; and the same is given to the wife, who, of course, will not play anything but the juvenile lead, but who at any other time would be glad to play first old woman. Thus the manager

takes nearly all the proceeds. Consonant choker (society), one

who cannot pronounce his R's and his G's.

Consoo (pidgin), consul.

My makee first-chop pidgin long-side dat consoo man, dat man no lawts (lazy), he blongy plenty smart inside.- Newspaper.

Contango (Stock Exchange), cor

ruption of continuation, a renewal of a bargain, a speculative sale or purchase. The premium paid by a buyer of stock to the seller, when upon selling day he wishes the bar

gain to remain open. B stands for broker, for bull and for bear, C's the contango that's paid by the bull.

-Atkin: House Scraps. Continent (Winchester College),

to be continent, is to be on the sick-list. Continent work, work

done while on the sick-list. Continental damn (American),

a term applied at a very early time in the Republic to any. thing utterly worthless, and supposed to have originated in some allusion to the Continental currency or American assignats.

Not to care a continental, not to care a damn. Continuations (common), trousers

or breeches. Convenient (old cant), a mistress. Convey, to (thieves), to steal.

But as I am crack, I will convey, crossbite, and cheat upon Simplicius.-Mar. ston. Conveyancer (thieves), a thief, a

pickpocket. Conveyancing (common), steal

ing ; picking pockets.

The green youth who attempted to decamp with 's watch ... was properly punished for his verdancy in the art of conveyancing.–Modern Society. Conveyer (old), a thief. The ex.

pression is used by Shakspeare

Constable (common), to outrun

or overrun the constable, to get into debt. Harkee, my girl, how far have you overrun the constable? I told him that the debt amounted to eleven pounds.Smollett: Roderick Random.

Constician (theatrical), an or.

chestral musician.

Consumah, khansama (Anglo

Indian). Persian, khansaman, house-steward, or provider, or butler.

I have taught my khansama to make very light iced punch. - Jacquemont : Letters.

in King Richard II. The French argot has the correspondent emporteur, with a like significa.

tion. Cooked (society), done, defeated,

finished up, exhausted. Cook his goose, to (common),

to kill, ruin a person. Thus abstinence, which cooks the goose, At length Sal's life has dofred.

-A Song : Drunken Sally, Also to worst one. Billy's too big in the Westphalia's gig. lamps, you're the boy to cook Fosbrooke's goose.-C. Bede: Verdant Green. Cook, to (artists), to dodge up a

picture. Artists say that a picture will not cook when it is excellent and unconventional, and beyond specious imitation (Hotten).

(Colloquial), to prepare, tamper with, as to cook accounts, returns.

A fixed percentage on every backer's pound, and the off chance of cooking the returns.-Sporting Times.

I hate my Lady, because she has locked my cooked accounts in the bower saloon.Punch, Cool (common), used in reference

to a large sum of money. Suppose you don't get sixpence costs, and lose your cool hundred by it.--Miss Edgeworth : Love and Law. Coolaman (Australian blackfel

lows), a word adopted from the blacks by the whites to describe a blackfellow's drinking vessel, and then applied generally.

A few broken gourds ... and a cracked coolaman were to be seen here and there.- A. Grant : Bush Life in Queens. land.

Cooler (American), prison. So

called on account of its being a fit place for getting sober or cooling down; or from cooler, a large tub, as in quotation.

They came near soaking him in the cooler.-F. Francis : Saddle and Moc. casin.

(Popular), a glass of beer after drinking spirits. Also a woman. Coon (American), short for racoon,

a man. The term first became general nearly fifty years ago. A gone coon (also English), one

who is ruined, lost. Coon's age (American), a very

popular expression to signify a
long time, the racoon being
regarded as a very long-lived
animal.

I saw Miss Jones inside the stage,
"Tis now an hour or so,
It seems to me an old coon's age
Since I beheld her go.

- Newspaper Ballad. Coop (streets), prison, abbrevia

tion of hen-coop.

You say that you have been in the coop as many times as I have.-J. Greenwood: Dick Temple. Cooper, to (American), to under

stand. Why on earth nature made you in the shape she did is more than I can cooper. -American Newspaper.

Possibly from a metaphor, I cannot cooper, I cannot grasp, that is, beyond my capaciousness, comprehension. Else from co-operate, with the sense of concur.

(Thieves), to destroy, spoil, forge; to cooper a monniker,

258

Coopered— Copperman.

forge a signature. Vide Coop.

ERED.
Coopered (turf), a horse that has

been hocussed or otherwise pur-
posely injured so as to prevent
him from running, was formerly
said to be coopered. The ex-
pression is sometimes used now
as in quotation.
Till they served him up a "coopered

job,"
And then of course he came
A most conclusive " smasher."

- Bird o' Freedom. (Tramps), a coopered place, a house that has been spoilt by too many tramps calling there (Hotten).

Coopered, in the sense of falling in, ruined, is possibly allied to the Scotch cowp, to tumble

over. Coorsy (Anglo-Indian), a chair ;

Arabic kursi. Cooter. Vide COUTER. Cop (thieves), a policeman. Vide

To COP. Wen that cop got his hand on my collar,

he ought to 'ave knowed like a shot, By the Astrykan only, that I wasn't one of the Socherlist lot.

-Punch. The cops, the police. Then, as them cowards of cops 'ave as much on their 'ands as they kin do with, now's the time for a bit of a loot !--Punch.

(Anglo-Indian), cop ! beware; an abbrevation of coprador. Cop-bung (thieves), a warning

cry when the police make their appearance.

Johnny Miller, who was to have his regulars, called out cop-bung! for, as you see, a fly.cop was marking.-On the Trail. Cop busy (thieves), the act of

handing plunder to a confederate, so as to have nothing

about one when arrested. Cop, to (popular and thieves),

to take, arrest, steal, catch. I'm right Tory right down to my boots, at

a price, and I bellered, “'Ear, 'ear!" But they don't cop yours truly with chaff

none the more, my dear Charlie, no fear.

-Punch, “Here, cop," I did not understand what he meant by the phrase.... I did not attempt to cop. Suddenly I saw three boiled potatoes, a pudding, and a sixounce loaf roll on the floor.--Evening News.

(Sporting), to win, to get money; a dead cop, a sure method of arriving at this result.

To cop is derived by Hotten from Latin capere; more probably it comes from the gypsy kap or cop, to take ; Scotch, kep;

Gaelic, ceapan. Coppas (gypsy), blankets, cover

ings, tiles. Copper, cop (popular and thieves),

a policeman; from “ to cop," which see.

“Then three coppers came." “ Coppers, coppers, what are they?" Witness : "Policemen, your worship."-Stanlard. Copperheads (American), pro

perly poisonous serpents. The term was applied by the Fede

rals to the peace party. Copperman (Australian prison), a

policeman.

Copper, to (gaming), when play

ing at faro, to cover a stake with a small check, which signifies that the card selected is backed to lose, not win. Oh, d-n Squito! It seems like she'd coppered me. Ever since she-since I seen that gal, luck's gone dead against me.-F. Francis : Saddle and Moccasin. Copus (Cambridge University).

Talking Latin at table, or similar improprieties, are followed by the infliction by the students of a fine. A copus, or quart of ale,

is a common penalty. Corduroy - road (American and

Australian), a road made of branches and logs laid side by side. The branches stand out

like the ribs of corduroy. Cork (common), a bankrupt.

“Probably,” says Hotten, “intended to refer to his lightness, as being without ballast."

(Pugilistic), “ to draw a cork" is to “tap the claret,” i.e., to give a bloody nose.

(Army), Captain Cork, applied

at mess when any one is slow

in passing round the bottle. Corkage (hotels), a sum charged

per bottle to persons providing their own wine. This term can hardly be considered as slang, but as a word unrecognised by

dictionaries. Corker (theatrical). A regular

corker is a duffer; an imbecile; one who corks or bottles up another actor's effects, or ruins a play.

(English and American), something that closes up or settles a question; something

unusually large, remarkable. The Crown Prince's lunch-bill was rather

a corker; No wonder His Highness refused for to pay.

-Fun. Also first-rate; at the top of the tree.

Jake Kilrain is a corker, and ought to have the championship of the world. New York National Police Gasette. Corks (popular), a butler, alluding

to his functions. Also money ; though originally a nautical term, this is very much used

by printers. Corned (colloquial), intoxicated.

From over-indulgence in drink strong enough to “corn” one (Wright). “Possibly from soaking or pickling oneself like corned beef,” says Hotten. It has been suggested that it is from the Keltic corn, French corne, a horn used formerly as a drinking vessel. As we say that a man is in his “cups,” it

“How is you been, my old Bullock ?” and he squeezed his corn-stealers till the old gineral began to dance like a bear on red-hot iron.-Sam Slick: The Clockmaker.

Corporal Forbes (Anglo-Indian),

a soldier's name for cholera morbus. We are all pretty well, but a great quantity are in hospital with Corporal Forbes. -Shipp's Memoirs. Corpse provider, a facetious name

for a physician. “Doctor,” cried the happy mother, as she waltzed into the consulting-room of the Brixton corpse provider, “I wish to consult you about my baby's legs."-Sporting Times. Corpser. Vide To CORPSE.

is possible that our very remote ancestors said of him that he was horned or corned, but it is almost beyond doubt that the term is an Americanism from corn, a very common name for

whisky. (Tailors), pleased. Corner (common), to get a corner

is to get the entire control of a stock, and so make it impossible for others to complete their bargains or to purchase. He had been mixed up disadvantage. ously in a recent corner in marbles.Punch.

(London), the “ Corner,” Tattersall's horse repository and betting-rooms, which was at Hyde Park Corner. (Thieves), a share -generally a share in the pro

ceeds of a robbery. Cornered (tailors), in an inextri.

cable dilemma; for instance, a man makes a garment which is already paid for, and pawns it, spends the money, and can't raise the amount to release it when wanted. Cornish duck (city), a pilchard.

" It frys in its own grease." Cornstalks (Australian), the

settlers, especially the girls, so called because their average height is very great, though they are fragile. We talk of cornstalks or "slab-sided Yankees," and have in our minds a tall but rather thin figure as representative of Australasia and America. -Globe. Corn - stealers (American), the

hands.

Corpse-reviver (common), a dram

of spirits.

There was a general rush for wet towels and corpse-revivers. - Sporting Times. Corpse, to (theatrical), to confuse,

to put out fellow-actors by sticking fast in the dialogue; kill a scene through ignorance, wilfulness, or stupidity. A contretemps of this kind is called “a regular corpser."

Corroboree (up country Austra

lian), to boil; a word borrowed from the natives, who thus call one of their wild dances. Whites generally use it in the sense of disturbance, hence it is said that a kettle corroborees when it boils.

Cosh (popular and thieves), a stick

of any kind, but more especially a policeman's baton. From the

gypsy kāsht, corrupt form kāsh, meaning wood in any form.

The officer . . . sought to give the finish ing coup de grâce with his cosh ... and it split the baton.-Evening News. Cossack (popular), a policeman. Costard (popular), the head; a very

old word, used by Shakspeare

in King Lear. Coster bloke (popular), a coster

monger.
I feels the tears come down my cheeks,

when I'eerd him 'owl and wail, "And," sez I, “I'm a simple coster bloke, but my 'art's right as the mail."

-Sporting Times. Cot, a term of opprobrium for

a woman. Heard in Kentish watering - places for the most

part. Cotton lord (common), a Man

chester manufacturer or dealer

in cotton. Cottonopolis, Manchester (Hot

ten). Cottons (Stock Exchange), Con

federated Dollar Bonds.

Couch a hogshead, to (old cant),

to lay down to sleep.

I couched a hogshead in a skypper this darkemans.-7. Harman : Caveat. Council of ten (popular), the toes

of a man who turns his feet

inward (Hotten). Counterfeit crank (old cant), a

rogue who shammed epilepsy. From the German krank, sick. Those that do counterfeit the crank be young knaves and yonge harlots, that depely dissemble the falling sickness.T. Harman : Caveat. Counter-jumper (common), a

shopman, a draper's assistant. “Sir, you should know that my cheek is not for you." “Why," said he, stilling his anger, "it seems free enough to every counter-jumper in the town."-C. Kingsley: Westward Ho. Counter-skipper (popular), a vari

ant of “counter - jumper," a

shopman. Counter, to (pugilistic), to strike.

His kissing traps countered,
His ribs roasted.

-C. Bede : Verdant Green. Count noses, to (parliamentary),

to take the number of a divi. sion. County crop (prison), hair

shortened to about an inch, which used to be the rule in all prisons, but is now confined to convicts. The expression is therefore now a misnomer, as county prisons no longer exist since the Government took all over in 1877, and prisoners are not thus cropped, as it would continue their punish

Cotton, to (common), a colloquial.

ism in the sense of to like, agree, be attached (literally to adhere, cling to, like cotton to cloth), but used in a slangy sense as in

quotation. For when once Madam Fortune deals out

her hard raps, It's amazing to think how one cottons to

drink! At such times, of all things in nature,

perhaps There's not one that is half so seducing as schnaps.

--Ingoldsby Legends.

262

Couple-beggar—Covey.

ment by marking them out after

their discharge. Couple-beggar (old cant), a low

fellow, who officiated as a clergyman in performing mar.

riages in the Fleet prison. Couranne (theatrical), from

couronne or corona, five shillings. Court card (old slang), a beau. Court martial (schoolboy), the

practice of tossing in a blanket

for a practical joke. Couter (popular), a sovereign.

From gypsy, cutto, literally a

piece. Cove (popular and thieves). In

old cant, “cofe," "cuffin," a man; also landlord.

He's a rum dog. Don't he look fierce at any strange cove. - Dickens : Oliver Twist.

Besides, I am that sort of cove the swells so much admire. — Toby.

This word Hotten connects with “cuif," a North of England word for a lout or awkward fellow. This seems to be borne out by the circumstance that in most cant languages man and fool are synonymous, but it has been suggested to be more probably from the Romany cova, a thing, the term being almost indefinite in its applicability. “It is,” says Pott, “a general helper on all occasions, is used as a substantive and an adjective, and has a far wider scope than the Latin res. Thus cove means that man; covi, that woman." The derivation from

the German kopf, a head (not applied directly to individuals except as in English), has also been suggested. (Australian station), the cove, the master, or over

seer. Covent Garden (old slang). This

place seems to have acquired at one time a most unenviable notoriety, for it entered considerably into the vicious slang of fifty years ago. Thus “the Covent Garden ague" was a certain venereal disease; a “ Covent Garden abbess" was a procuress; and prostitutes were nicknamed “ Covent Garden nuns." (Rhym. ing slang), a farthing pronounced

farden. Cover (thieves), an accomplice

who“ fronts” or covers a pickpocket while he is operating. (American), to cover, to drink. An Englishman drinks rum fustian, imagining that he is covering a fancy mixed drink.- American Newspaper. Cover-down (thieves), a tossing

coin with a false cover. Obso

lete. Covess (old cant), explained by

quotation. ... Well acquainted with the cove and the covess-that is, the landlord and land. lady. – J. Parker: Variegated Characters. Covey (popular and thieves), a

man or boy. Vide Cove. Hullo, my covey! what's the row ?-Dickens : Oliver Twist.

"Can't you repay me that five bob now?” “You'd only booze it if I did." And the covey will have to wait.-Bird' o' Freedom.

Coving—Cowshooter.

263

Coving, theft of jewellery by

palming it as a conjuror does. Covo (gypsy) (for acóvo), this ;

this person or thing. Covo, “this man ;” covi, “this wo man.”

Covva, cuvva (gypsy), a thing;

all the covras,” up to all the tricks. games. devices. or “rigs."

Covvaben (gypsy), an incident. Cow (nautical), a gay woman.

Vache, in the French slang, has the same signification. (Turf),

one thousand pounds. Cowan. In ordinary slang a spy,

a sneak, a prying informer. It is a term given by the Freemasons to all uninitiated persons, and is probably the Hebrew word cohen, jod, a priest, from the opposition and oppression which the Freemasons have endured from the Catholic Church. Cowan is not an uncommon form of “ Cohen” as a name among Jews. The derivation of Cowan from the Greek ków, a dog, is a great injustice to the Free. masons, who have never regarded or treated the unini.

tiated as dogs. Cow and calf (rhyming slang), to

laugh. Cow-boy (American), cattle her

der or drover of Texas and South - Western States. The term was applied during the revolutionary war to so-called

Tory partisans in the State of New York, but who were no better than brigands, plunder

ing both sides. Cowcamp (American), explained

by quotation. ... Were a number of cowcamps, where recently settled stockmen kept watch and ward over herds of long-horned Texas cattle, which grazed along the river or on the mesas above. — The Youth's Companion. Cow-chilo (pidgin-English), a

girl, i.e., cow-child. A boy was
termed bull-chiio. These terms
are becoming obsolete, but are
often used in fun to chaff
Chinese.
In he city of Whampo
Lib Joss-pidgin man name Coe,
Massa Coe he missionaly,
Hab got one cow-chilo Maly.

-The Ballad of Mary Coe. Cow-cow (pidgin), to be very

angry, to scold (Hotten). Cow juice (popular), milk; the

term is also used by school

boys. Cowlick (popular), lock of hair

twisted forward from the ear,

rarely seen now. Cow-oil, or cow-grease (pidgin),

butter. Obsolete, but literally

translated from the Chinese. Cows and kisses (rhyming slang),

mistress or missus; the ladies.

Come, cows and kisses, put the battle of the line on your Barnet fair, and a rogue and villain in your sky-rocket.--Horsley : Jottings from Jail. Cowshooter (Winchester College),

a round-topped hat, worn only

by prefects, “ bluchers” (ranking next to prefects), and “jolly

keeps,” or old students. Crabs (thieves), feet; to move

one's crabs, to run away.

I crossed a crusher at the landyard. ... I moved my crabs like a bull.-On the Trail.

(Dice players), a pair of aces. Crabshells (popular), shoes. Crack, a recognised colloquialism,

used as an adjective, meaning first-rate.

Captain Cadsby, as he loved to call himself, was the crack shot of Doltshire. -Truth.

(Sport), a crack, an adept. Lawn tennis at Cannes . . . the doings of the cracks, we know, interest many of our readers. -Pastime.

(Turf), the crack is the favour. ite in a race.

The extraordinary fluctuations in the betting which drove the crack from 6 to 4 to 10 to 1 the night before the race.Sporting Times.

(Old), a crack, an insane person, a boaster.

(Popular), a crack, a prostitute; to crack up, to extol, to puff (obsolete English, but used in a slangy sense); in a crack, in an instant; to crack, to inform.

(Thieves), a crack, a burglary. Here . . . success to the crack.

- Dickens : Oliver Twist. To crack a crib, to commit a burglary.

I mean to crack a crib to-night,
But, pals, don't crack on me.

-Ballad : Bates's Farm. The crib's barred up at night like a jail; but there's one part we can crack safe and softly.-Dickens : Oliver Twist.

(Tinker), crack, a stick. Not “modern gypsy," as declared

by Hotten. Crack a bottle, to (common), to

drink a bottle of liquor. Crack a whid, to (thieves), to

talk. Cracked nut (common), the head

of an insane person.

An enthusiastic poet begs Mr. - to lift up his “crested head." Cracked nut would, practically speaking, be more to the point. ---Fun. Cracked up (common), ruined,

“gone to smash.” Cracker (common), an untruth

consequent on boastful or improbable statements. The older form is “crack," alluding to high-sounding language, as in "crack up," to loudly extol, puff up. It has been suggested that “ crack" is from the Gaelic crac, to talk. The French une craque is a mild untruth, or a gasconade, and in the latter sense it is synonymous with cracker. Le Baron de Crac is the French Munchausen, the hero of a volume of travels, who meets with the most marvellous adventures, the type of a boast

ful, gasconading, story-teller. Crackey (popular), an ejaculation.

A corruption of “crikey,” which see,

Cracking a crust (common), rubb

ing along in the world ; "cracking a tidy crust," means doing very well. This is a very com

mon expression among the lower

orders (Hotten). Crackling (Cambridge Univer

sity), the three velvet strips worn on the sleeve by members of St. John's College, Cambridge,

called “ hogs." Crack-pot (American), preten.

tious, petty, a small person of
little account.

I'm a crack-pot in the city ...
All the barmaids at me titter
When I call for mild and bitter,
They say I am their little

Bit of crack-pot jam.
-A Catnach Ballad: The

Crack-Pot in the City.
Cracksman (thieves), a burglar.

Some mortals disdain the calm

blessings of rest, Your cracksman, for instance, thinks night-time the best.

- Ingoldsby Legends. Cram, crammer (common), a lie.

My little friend . . . pulled my nose for telling what he called a beastly cram.Punch.

That was the crammer I told him, and furthermore . .. I piled it up a bit. Greenwood: Left in a Cab.

To cram, to lie; also to acquire or impart instruction hastily in view of an approaching examination. This is an almost recognised term. A very clever lad can dispense with the expense of being crammed. - United Ser. vice Gazette.

To cram up one, to ply him with falsehoods.

(University), a cram, a translation.

The infatuated Mr. Bouncer madly per. sisted in going into the school clad

in his examination coat, and padded over with a host of crams.-C. Bede: Verdant Green, Crammer (common), a falsehood;

a liar; one expert in “cramming," i.e., preparing hastily candidates for examination; the head of a “cramming” estab

lishment. Cramped, crapped (popular and

thieves), killed or hanged. Cramping cull (old cant), the

executioner. Cramp in the hand (popular),

stinginess or meanness. Cramp words (old cant), sentence

of death. Cranberry eye (American). When

a man's eye is bloodshot, generally from drinking alcohol, he is often called a boy with a cranberry eye. The American cranberry is very much larger than the English variety, and bears a resemblance to an in

flamed optic. Crank. Vide COUNTERFEIT

CRANK. (American), insane, eccentric, or a monomaniac. (Old),

gin and water. Crap (old cant), money ; the

gallows. And what if at length, boys, he come to

the crap? Even rack-punch has some bitter in it.

- Ainsworth : R'ookwood. To crap, to hang.

(Printers), applied to “pie,” or mixed-up type, that a compositor neglects to clear away ;

equivalent to the popular name for excrement.

(Popular), to crap, to ease oneself. Crapping casa (low theatrical),

the W.C. Crapny (gypsy), a turnip, a button

or nail head. Sometimes krafny. Crawl (tailors), one who uses

undignified means to curry favour with an employer or fore

man. Crawler (common), explained by

quotation.

Every hansom-cab, or crawler, is in itself an express waggon on a small but sufficient scale.-Bird o' Freedom.

Also a cab which goes slowly to pick up fares. A mean, contemptible fellow.

Cream-jugs (Stock Exchange),

Charkof-Krementschug Railway

Bonds. Oh! supposing our Cream-jugs were

broken, Or“ Beetles” were scuring the "Babies."

-Atkin: House Scraps. Creamy (common), excellent. Creeper (prison), one who curries

favour by hypocrisy and tale

bearing. Creepers (popular), lice. (Ameri

can), the feet. Creeps (common), explained by

quotation, Each of those four men was immediately seized with that cold, peculiar thrill, com. monly called the creeps.-Bird o' Freedom. Cri, short for Criterion. But the youth was hard-hearted, and

soon he departed,
And wandered away to the Cri.

-Sporting Times. Crib (popular and thieves), a

house, room.

They separated in the garden after they had cracked the crib.-H. Kingsley: Geoffrey Hamlyn.

The term is used by others in a disparaging sense for a place, house, situation, restaurant. (Schools), a literal translation of an author. Possibly from the meaning of to crib, to crowd together, to confine in a small space, as “cram,” synonym of crib, or from the slang signification to cheat, to pilfer. To crib, to cheat at an examination by using a crib, more generally to cheat by plagiary. (Common), to crib, given by Webster as a

Craw-thumper (popular), a Roman

Catholic (Hotten). In America a native of Ireland, i.e., Irish Catholic. Wanted a servant-maid. No pulings or craw-thumpers need apply.-Phila. delphia Public Ledger.

Craze (common), used in refer

ence to anything in great vogue that is “the rage" for the time. being.

It was a craze on both sides and it passed. During the craze S. and M. had their photographs taken together, and the double picture sold somewhat furiously.Bird o' Freedom,

Crazy quilt (American), properly

a quilt made of all kinds of patches. Figuratively a confused and mixed political party.

recognised word but used now in a slangy sense, to pilfer. It is not stealing, at least it does not seern like stealing ... it is at most only cribbing.–Greenwood : Seven Curses of London.

(Old cant), crib, the stomach. Cribbage-faced (common), is said

of a person marked with the

small-pox. Cribber (military), a grumbler; a

cavalry term evidently from the expression “ crib-biter,” given to a horse which gnaws at its crib or manger, quarrelling with his last meal and his difficulty

in digesting it. Crib-biter (common), an invete.

rate grumbler. Vide CRIBBER. Cribcracker (thieves and popu.

lar), a burglar.

The little boys . . . delight in gossip concerning his talents as a cribcracker and his adventures as a pickpocket. -Sims : How the Poor Live.

takes a desponding view of: everything. (Popular), a beggar, a corpse. Well ... it won't perhaps send you into hysterics to hear that Dave is as good as a croaker.-). Greenwood : Al. most Lost.

(Prison), the doctor. One man who had put his name for the “butcher" or croaker, would suddenly tind that he had three ounces of bread less to receive and then a scene would ensue. -Evening Nows. Croak, to (thieves), to die, to

kill.

Crikey (popular), an exclamation

denoting astonishment, a cor. ruption of Christ. “Well, I'm blowed !” he added. “This here's a free country, and a cove ain't to swear at his own gal, oh, crikey."-Sims: Rogues and Vagabonds. Crimum (tinker), sheep. Cripple (popular), a bent sixpence.

(Common), an awkward or dull

person. Crisp (common), a banknote.

He... cashed a cheque for £100 and handed over the crisp.--Modern Society. Croaker (old slang), a fourpenny

piece. (Common), one who

Croakumshire (old slang). This

nickname is said to have been given to Northumberland because of the difficulty people in that county have in pronouncing the letter r, which imparts a somewhat rough tone to the

voice. Crock (common), the original

meaning is that of a slow, worthless horse, but in society it is also applied figuratively to a slow, foolish, good-for-nothing person, as in the phrase, “that girl is a regular crock." In sporting and university language it is also used in reference to a duffer, a lazy bungler.

The delinquents still rowed their blades like giants and nowhere in the boat was a crock to be seen.-Referu.

With reference to the origi. nal meaning of slow, worthless horse, crock is allied to creep, Anglo-Saxon creopan, and old High Dutch kriochan. But it is curious to note that in German slang krig is a horse, and that

the German ross, a horse, has given the French rosse, a slow. good-for-nothing horse; this word being used with the same figurative meaning as crock, applied to persons. Crocker (sporting), a spaniel em.

ployed in beating underwood

for small game. Crockets (Winchester College),

the word for cricket To “get out crockets" is to get out with a “duck's egg," that is, without having made any runs. “Small crockets" is the name given to a game played with an india-rubber ball and a plain deal bat about two inches

broad. Crocodile (university), a girls'

school walking two and two. Crocus, croakus (popular and

thieves), a quack; crocus. chovey, an apothecary's shop; crocus-pitcher, a street seller of medicines.

(Army), crocus, an army or navy surgeon. From "croak," to die, which has given the prison slang “croaker" for a

doctor. Crone (circus), a clown. From a

provincialism, cronny, merry. Cronker (tailors), the foreman. Crook (thieves and popular). On

the crook, by dishonest means; the reverse of “square.” Got on the crook, stolen. Hence a crook is a thief, both in England and America.

CHICAGO crook. –“Good news, Jim.' •. • FELLOW crook. —"What's up?"Tit Bits,

No crook gets any good out of his boodles.- Detroit Free Press. Crookback (old slang), a six

penny piece, from some of these coins being much bat

tered. Crooked (thieves), stolen. Vide

CROOK, Croop (popular), stomach; for

crop. Cropper (common), a heavy fall;

to tumble “neck and crop." He was far more shaken by his cropper than in any round of his memorable fight with Bungaree or any other opponent.Sporting Times.

To “come a cropper,” to have a heavy fall. Also said of a man who experiences a decided failure.

There was a steeplechase for gentlemen riders, over which all the sharps came a cropper through backing Sufflet.-Sporting Times.

Croppie (prison), one who has had

his hair cut in prison. The term was applied to Irish rebels in 1789, and formerly to those who had their ears cut off by the executioner. Puritans went by that name on account of their

short hair. Croppled (Winchester College),

to be croppled is to be turned

in a lesson. Cross (thieves). To be “on the

cross,” to be a thief; to get a thing on the cross is to obtain it

Cross-kid, to (thieves), explained

by quotation.

A reeler came to the cell and crosskidded (questioned) me.-Horsley: Jot. tings from Jail.

surreptitiously, the reverse of “ on the square.”

The young woman is Bess, and perhaps she may be on the cross, and y' don't go to say that what with flimping and with cly-faking, and such like, she mayn't be wanted some day.-H. Kingsley: Ravens. hoe.

Hence, a cross, a thief; termed also “cross man,” or “cross cove."

It reminds us too of the “ plants" and crosses, and of the lowest of the low who supported pugilism.-Punch.

(University), to cross, putting a cross against a man's name for not paying his bills to the bursar,

or cutting chapel lectures, &c. Cross chap (costermongers), a

thief.

Cross-roader (American), a man

whose ways are doubtful or dishonest. ... For the simple purpose of being introduced to the club, there to "fleece the suckers," who never suspect they are playing against a cross-roader.-Chicago Tribune.

Crow(thieves), a man who watches

while another creeps into houses, down areas, or into shops. (Common), a regular crow, an unexpected piece of luck, i.e., something to crow over. “I have a crow to pull with you," a complaint to make, or misunderstanding to clear up. (American), to eat crow, to recant, to humiliate oneself.

In America, a right-about movement of this character is described as eating crow. -St. James' Gazette.

Crowder (tinker), a string.

Crowders (theatrical), large audi.

ences.

Cross cove and mollisher

(thieves), a man and woman who are in partnership for pur

poses of robbery. Cross-crib (thieves and roughs),

a house frequented by thieves. Cross-cut, and tip and sifter

(American), mining terms from California expressive of motions or methods in washing gold. These terms were at one time commonly applied in slang in

many ways. Cross-drum (thieves), a thieves'

tavern. Cross-famming (thieves), robbing

a person of his scarf-pin; " from the position of the arms in the

act,” says Hotten. Vide Fam. Crossing the damp-pot (tailors),

going to America.

He had his tea and hot rolls in a morning, while we were battening upon our quarter of a penny loaf-our crug.Lamb: Essays.

Crus

amongst soldiers to a man's appearance. (Thieves), with well-filled pockets. Also lousy.

A“ crummy doss." Crumpet face (popular), a face

with smallpox marks. Crumpler (common), cravat.

If I see a boy make to do about the fit of his crumpler ...-Blackmore: Lorna Doone. Crutch (Winchester College), a

name given to the school car

penter. Cry of things (popular), a great

number of things; "a cry of

pears.”

Crusty beau (old slang), a fop

who makes up with paint and cosmetiques. C's, the three (prison), the Cen.

tral Criminal Court. C.T.A., (circus and travelling

showmen), the police. Cuckoo (society), a fool. Cud (Winchester College), hand

some, pretty. Probably from kudos. (Popular), a piece of

tobacco chewed, a “quid." Cuddling (prize-fighters), wrest

ling.

It was said by some cavillers that there was too much wrestling, or, as they called it, cuddling.-Punch. Cue despiser (theatrical), said of

an actor who is careless in taking up his cue, thereby damag

ing the performance, Cue, to (thieves), to obtain goods

on credit which you never mean to pay for, synonymous with "going upon the letter

Q,” “the mace." Cuff (tailors), one who feigns re

ligion, or is religious. Cuffer (military), a lie; spinning

a cuffer, telling an exaggerated, grossly improbable story; one that cuffs or beats any story. (American thieves), a man, rus. tic. From old English cant cofe, or the Yiddish kaffer, a stupid fellow ; kaffori, Hebrew

for a peasant. Cuff shooter (theatrical), an im

pudent and presuming tyro, who

Cry matches (American), a slang

exclamation of surprise. Its derivation is improbably given as “crime hatches.” By some “cry” is considered as equivalent to Christi or Christ, but

the phrase is altogether obscure. Crusher (popular), a policeman;

from the slang term “to crush,”
to run.

To bonnet a lot of old blokes,
And make petticoats squeal is good

biz,
But a crusher's 'ard knuckles a
crunching yer scrag? no,
I'm blowed if that is!

--Punch. Crush, to (popular), to run. Pos

sibly from “ beetle - crusher”.

(which see). Crust (theatrical), the head.

Cuffy-Cup.

271

gives himself airs, and thinks more of his “cuffs” than his cues.

word; it is used by Addison and others.

Your royal cully has command
Only from you at second hand.

-Earl of Rochester : Works.

Cuffy, cuffee (West Indian), a

word generally applied to negroes, and which was at one time a very common name among them. Literally it means “Thursday. Among the Guinea and Dahomey negroes every man receives a name from the day of the week on which he is born. Hence the frequency of Quashee, Cruffee, Juba, &c. The latest Cuffee introduced to the British public was King Coffee Calcolli.

The fine dash of Virginia upper cuffyism, it is gone, gone for ever. Sambo has settled down into a simple bourgeois.Putnam's Magazine. Culing (thieves), an abbreviation

of reticuling; snatching reti. cules from the seats of carriages at races.

Evidently an abbreviation of “cullion," French couillon.

(Theatrical), actors sometimes address one another as cully, or "laddie.” “Where's your wife, old boy?" inquired a friend of a well-known comedian on tour. “Don't know, cully."-Bird Freedom.

Rum cull, the manager. Cully gorger (theatrical), the manager of a theatre. According to Baumann, a brother actor. Cum annexes (West Indian), the

members of one's family. Cum-shaw (pidgin), a present of

any kind, a gratuity, a pourboire or baksheesh. “According to Giles it is the Amoy pronunciation (kam-siā) of two characters signifying 'grateful thanks'” (Anglo-Indian Glossary). Mashee, he no givee dat Chinee man cumshaw, not one little nip tee cashee (one very small coin), he too smallo man inside. he no makee plopa fashion-p'ho !-- The Talking Ducks. Cunnels, dunnovans (tinker),

potatoes.

Culio (pidgin), a curio, a curiosity.

The common term “curio" was borrowed from this Chinese ab

breviation :One time two piecey Flunsee (French

men) make walkee in Canton, Look-see one piecee culio-shop-a first chop numpsi one.

-L'Oiseau.

Cull, cully (popular and thieves),

a man or boy. Now the darky shines on 'em, you see what famous togs the cull has on.-Ainsworth: Auriol.

Cully had formerly the signification of greenhorn, fool, dupe, milksop, and was a recognised

Cup and saucer players (theatri.

cal), a term of derision invented by the pessimists for the purpose of depreciating the artists associated with the perform. ance of the late T. W. Robertson's comedies.

272

Cup-tosser-Cussedness.

Cup-tosser (popular), a person

who professes to tell fortunes by examining the grounds in

tea or coffee-cups (Hotten). Cure (common), a curious, eccen.

tric, odd person. Imported from America; was used with that sense twenty-five years ago. More generally now a humorous, comical person. Derived from an eccentric American popular song called “The

Cure." Curious, to do (popular), to do

anything out of the ordinary. “Look at that man tumbling

about. He's doing curious." Curl up (popular), be silent. Currants and plums (rhyming

slang), thrums; slang for three

pence. Currency (Australian), persons

born in Australia, natives of England being termed “ster

ling.' Curro (gypsy), a cup or tankard. Curse of Scotland (Scotch), the

nine of diamonds. Many derivatives have been suggested, and Hotten says the most probable is, that in the game of Pope Joan the nine of diamonds is the pope, of whom the Scotch have an especial horror, Cursetor (old cant), a tramp,

vagabond Curtail (old cant), second in

command in the fraternity of vagabonds.

Curtain (theatrical), a strong

situation at the end of an act, which, when the curtain descends, elicits a burst of applause, and causes the curtain

to be taken up again. Curtain-raiser (theatrical and

journalistic), a short play performed before a more important one. Corresponds to the French “lever de rideau.” “Love and Politics " was produced as a curtain-raiser at the Opera Comique on Thursday.- The Referee. Cuse (Winchester College), a book

in which the marks of each

division are recorded. Cushion-smiter (popular), a

clergyman or preacher. Cushmawaunee (Anglo-Indian),

never mind. Cuss (American), a man.

A durned nasty old cuss he is, and don't you forget it.-F. Francis : Saddle and Moccasin.

It is not always used disparagingly; a tough cuss is a bold, indomitable man.

It is said that the teamster . . . considered himself to be entitled to be called a tough (uss. -Stevens: Around the World on a Bicycle. Cussedness (American), evilmindedness, innate depravity. To do a thing out of pure cussedness is the same as to do it for mere mischief, without reason or excuse. Also audacity. He . . . resolved to be present in his seat out of what may be characterised as pure cussedness.—Daily Telegraph.

had cut that worthy dead in his own asylum.--Reade: Hard Cash. Cut didoes, to, synonymous with

cut capers (Hotten). Cut dirt, to (American), to run away very rapidly. He jump up fo' sartin-he cut dirt

and run, While Sambo follow arter wid his “tum, tum, tum."

-Negro Song of 1829. Cut down (American), deprived,

brought low, poor. Cut in, to (society), take a share

in, to try for. Most of the students will cut in for a prize. -School Magazine.

Cuss out, to (American), to sub

due or silence an opponent by overwhelming severity of tongue. “He cussed him out," i.e., used such violent language (not necessarily profane) as to

verbally annihilate him. Customer (common), generally

used in such phrases as a “queer, or rum customer ;” a curious fellow, or one difficult to deal with; an “ugly customer,” a dangerous person or animal.

(American thieves), a victim. Cut (old), tipsy. (Society), a step,

a stage, as “she is a cut above

me.” Cut a shine, to (popular), to play

pranks, amuse oneself boister-
ously.
I smoke her havannas and lower her

wine,
At times with her money I cut a rare
shine.

-Song. Cut and dried (thieves), the phrase

refers to a robbery which has been duly planned. Some time after that affair with the fence, one of the mob said to me, “I have got a place cut and dried'; will you come and do it?"-Horsley : Jottings from Jail. Cut bene, to (old cant), to use

pleasant words. Cut capers, to (common), to be

have in a disorderly, improper

manner. Cut dead, to (common), to break

off all connection with an acquaintance or friend.

But he could not get these books with. out Dr. Wycherley, and unfortunately he

Cut into, to (Winchester College),

to hit one on the back with a “ground ash" or stick used by prefects in the exercise of their functions.

Cut it fat, to (popular), to show

off, exaggerate.

They've mustered in great force, and no mistake. I'm blest if they ain't cut it fat. -Funny Folks. Cut of one's jib (common), one's

appearance.

Cut one's lucky (popular), to go away, to run off; to make a “lucky” escape (Lat. feliciter

evasit). Cut one's stick, to (common),

to depart; literally, procure a stick for a journey. Or a corruption of up stick ! i.e., tentpegs, often done in a great hurry.

Far off a man appeared; and by his guise

I knew him for a keeper!... ... I fled !-fast as I could I went !-in fact, again, and it was wise, I cut my stick.

-Fun.

Cuts (tailors), “small cuts” are

small scissors, button - hole

scissors. Cut saucy, to (tailors), to cut

a garment in the height of fashion.

Cutsom (pidgin), custom; a word

extensively applied to law, habits, usage. “Dat blongy olo cutsom,” is continually heard from Chinese, when asked the reason

for anything So it blongey olo cutsom-which neva'

wailo way, Allo baba' (all barbers) hab got stickee in China-side to-day.

-Ahong and the Mosquito. Cutter (old), a cutpurse. Hotten

says this ancient cant word now survives in the phrase, “to swear like a cutter." Cutter, according to Vaux, was applied to a man in the habit of drawing a knife in a quarrel.

Cut the line, string, to (thieves),

to cut a story short, to end a

story. Cutting (Australian and Ameri

can), separating cattle from a herd and lassoing them. I had been furnished with a trained cutting pony, reported to be one of the best in the valley. ... It was only necessary, after having shown him a cow or a calf getting away from the herd, to give him his head, and at full speed he started for it immediately.-F. Francis : Saddle and Moccasin. Cutting his eyes (thieves), getting

suspicious. Cutting his own throat (Stock

Exchange) is said of a man who buys or sells stocks, and immediately re-sells or re-purchases

them at a loss. Cutting his painter (nautical) is

said of a man who makes off suddenly or clandestinely, or dies. French sailors use the corresponding expression déra

linguer with the same sense. Cutting it fine. Vide FINE. Cutting shop (popular), a place

where cheap inferior goods or

material are retailed. Cutting the wind (military), sword

drill. Cutting-trade (trade), one con

ducted on competitive principles, where the profits are very closely

shaved (Hotten). Cutting up (popular), acting in an eccentric or daring manner. To cut up shindies was the first

Cut that (popular), be quiet.
Cut the line (printers), see LINES

ON. When a companionship of compositors fall short of work they cut the line, i.e., all the men leave work till sufficient is provided for the whole. The reference is to the fact that piece hands working in companionships are paid by the number of lines composed, ac cording to size and width.

Cuttle-boung—Cymbal.

275

form. The expression has ex

tended to the United States. Cuttle-boung (old cant), a knife

used for cutting purses. Cutto or cutter (gypsy), a piece,

bit, rag, or drop. Cutters o' brishno, “drops of rain;" yeck cutter o' levinro, “one drop of ale.” Cutteréngris, bits, pieces. Engri, equivalent to a thing or one thing, like the “one piece" of Pidgin, is often quite needlessly post-fixed to a noun in Romany. (Hindu, katra, a drop.) Hence cutter, a (gold) piece, a

sovereign. Cut, to (common), to run away.

Generally to "cut and run." Abbreviated from “cut his stick," or from an idea of severance, separation, as in the phrase “cutting one's painter,” going away. Excuse me, you fellows, I must cut off home.-Bird o' Freedom.

Simply shook him ... bade him to cut it quick.–Town Talk.

(Trade), to compete in business (Hotten).

(Old cant), to speak. Cutty (common), a short-stemmed

clay pipe.

“Wot's the matter ?” cried the sandman, who had lighted a cutty, and was quietly smoking it.-Ainsworth : Auriol. Cutty-eyed (thieves), one who

looks suspicious. Cutty-sark (Scotch), a short

chemise. Cut up (common), vexed ; to cut

up, to come up; generally to turn out, well or otherwise ; to become ; to cut up well, vide CUT UP FAT. (Thieves), to

cut up, to divide the plunder. Cut up fat, to (common), to leave

at one's death a good estate. Cut up rough, to (common), to

give signs of great displeasure, to become violent, evilly disposed. Well! ... I'm not so sorry, after all, that they cut up rough, and ploughed me. -C. Bede: Verdant Green. Cut up rusty, to (popular), to be

come unpleasant, angry, rough. Cut up shines, shindies, to (popu

lar), to play tricks, pranks

(Hotten). Cut your own grass, to (prison),

gain your own living. Cymbal (thieves), a watch.

Dakma, to (thieves), to silence.

I had to dakma the bloke to clay the swag. Patsey crowed for me, and that was all the good it done me.-On the Trail. Dam (up-country Australian), a

pond for watering cattle. This is generally made by throwing up a bank across a hollow or little gully. When the floods come the escape of the floodwater is prevented.

The rain had been pouring down for weeks, as if to make up for the summer's drought. It had filled the dams and flooded the creeks, and the diggers were having a drunken bout.-Keighley Good. child: Waif. Damber (old cant), first damber

cove, a head-man. Dame (Eton). At Eton the word

Dame has no reference to the weaker sex. Any person, other than a classical master, who keeps a boys' boarding house in College is a Dame. Thus all mathematical masters' houses are Dames' houses.

I am thankful to say that I did not attend the show. But I happened to see the World conducted back to his Dames, and the spectacle was gruesome. The punishment inflicted had been very considerable, and I do not think the World appeared in public for quite a fortnight.Sketchy Memories of Eton. Damnation Corner (Eton), ex

plained by quotation. Meanwhile, “regardless of our doom, we little victims played," or rather watched the play; we little knew what cruel fate awaited us, or that the present head-mas. ter of Eton and the Rev. F. W. Cornish lay in ambush for our outcoming behind that very sharp turn in the High Street, which, on account of its acute angle, and the consequent danger of being nailed

in shirking in old days, was somewhat flippantly termed Damnation Corner.Sketchy Memories of Eton. Damned soul (old slang). A clerk

in the Customs House, whose duty was to swear or clear mer. chandise, used to guard against perjury by taking a previous oath never to swear truly; he

was called a damned soul. Damper (school), a suet pudding

in use at schools, introduced before meat to take off the edge of the appetite. (Thieves), a shop till. To “ draw a damper," to rob a till.

(Tailors), a “sweater," i.e., one who gets as much work for as little pay as possible out of

workmen. Damp-pot (tailors), the sea. Dance, to (printers). If letters

drop out when the forme is lifted, the forme is said to dance (Academy of Armoury, R. Holme, 1688).

(Old), “ to dance the Paddington frisk,” to be hanged ; also termed “ to dance upon nothing." French “danser une danse où i' n'y a pas d' plancher." Just as the felon condemned to die, With a very natural loathing, Leaving the sheriff to dream of ropes, From his gloomy cell in a vision elopes To a caper on sunny greens and slopes, Instead of the dance upon nothing.

-Hood: Miss Kilmarsegg. Dancer or dancing-master

(thieves), a thief who gets on the roof of houses and effects an entrance by a window. He has of course to pick his way

carefully, and to be as neat in

his steps as a dancing-master. Dancers (thieves), a flight of steps

or stairs. Come, my Hebe, brack the dancers, that is, go up the stairs.-Lytton: What will he do with it. Dander (low), to get up one's

dander, or to have one's dander raised, to get suddenly into a passion; to burst or flare up.

The fire and fury that blazed in her eyes gave ocular evidence of her dander being up. - From the N. 0. Picayune, cited by Bartlett.

My dander got considerable riz at this, so I knocked the chap down as called me a confederate.-Scraps.

From the Dutch.

There is not the slightest proof that this is derived from raising the scurf or dander at the roots of the hair, as Bartlett thinks, though Americans, misled by the resemblance of sound, talk about “dander being riz." In Dutch donuler is thunder, and op donderen, i.e., to get the donder up, is to burst out into a sudden rage, or, as Sewel explains, “like an infernal spirit;" to flare up; to blaze out in wrath.

(American). This word, origi. nally English, and manifestly taken from the ordinary word dandy, a fop, as a type of any. thing neat or fanciful, has been greatly extended in America.

The man who marries a woman simply because she is a dandy arrangement to have about the house does so from a pure business standpoint, and, in the end, if not compelled to support him, she has done better than many women I know of. -Nasby.

(Anglo-Indian), a boatman ; also a kind of hammock-litter, in which travellers are carried.

In the lower hills, when she did not walk, she travelled in a dandy.-Kinloch: Large-game Shooting in Thibet.

(Irish), a small glass of whisky. Dandy-master (coiners), a coiner

who employs others to pass counterfeit coin.

The spirits obtained being mostly bottled and labelled, and unopened, find a ready sale at public-houses known to the dandymaster, so that no serious loss is experienced in that direction.-). Greenwood : Tag, Rag, & Co. Dang it! (common), an evasive

curse, but unlike its prototype, Damn it! it is never used

angrily. Danglers (thieves), a bunch of

seals. And where the swag, so bleakly pinched, A hundred stretches hence ? The thimbles, slang, and danglers filched A hundred stretches hence ?

-On the Trail. Darbies (prison), handcuffs, irons.

“Stay," cried he, “if he is an old hand he will twig the officer.” “Oh, I'm dark, sir," was the answer; "he won't know me till I put the darbies on him."-Reade : Never too Late to Mend,

Dandy (coiners), a counterfeit

gold sovereign or half sovereign. The spurious coin is well made, and its composition includes some pure gold.

And it is not in paltry pewter "sours,” with which the young woman has dealings, but in dandies; which, rendered into in. telligible English, means imitation gold cuin.-J. Greenwood: Tag, Rag, & Co.

It is said that handcuffs, used to bind two prisoners together,

were called a Darby and Joan. Darble (old cant), the devil.

From the French.
Darby (old cant), ready money.
Dark (common), secret.

It was evident to the Devonshire gentle. man that the three traitors had agreed between them to keep quite dark a certain little episode of the afternoon enjoyment.J. Greenwood: Dick Temple.

(Prison), “getting the dark," being confined in an absolutely dark cell. Probably abolished now. There was one at Clerkenwell Prison, but it was not used for at least the last ten years of that prison's existence.

Dark cully (old slang), a married man who keeps a mistress, but for fear of detection only visits her secretly.

Dark house (old), a lunatic asy

lum. Dark it, to (tailors), to keep

secret. Darkmans (old cant), night.

Bene lightmans to thy quarromes; in what lipken hast thou lypped in this darkemans, whether in a lybbege or in the strummel ?–7. Harman : Caveat.

T.e., “Good day to thee; in what house didst thou sleep last night, in a bed or on the straw?" Darkman's budge (old cant), a

man who slips in unobserved into a house in the daytime to give ready entrance to his con

federates. Darks (nautical), nights on which

the moon does not shine-much looked to by smugglers (Ad

miral Smyth). Dark 'un (racing), equivalent to

“dark horse,” which see. Darky (American), negro.

In these days of schools and schoolmasters for the coloured people the number of those who cannot tell their right hand from their left" will presumably rapidly diminish; but before the darky of anti-bellum times quite disappears among the shades of things that are past. :Harper's Magasine.

Also twilight. Darned, darn it (common), a cor

ruption of and euphemism for damn. Of American origin,

"Two dimes,” coolly replied Jonathan. "Two devils,” snarled the customer; “why, I can get just as good cider here for five cents a glass.” “No, you can't," drawled the Yankee. “There ain't a pint of cider, 'cept what I've got in that 'ere barrel, this side of Orleans. I'm darned

Dark horse (turf), a horse who

has never run, or who having run is supposed not to have exhibited his real powers in public. The sporting journals are kindly constant in their endeavours to throw light on this particular form of darkness.

The present year is likely to be memor. able in racing records as the year of sur. prises. The first favourites have fared badly. The Derby was won by a dark horse ; Ténébreuse, who carried off the Grand Prix last Saturday, was hardly in the betting.–Standard.

(American), a candidate who keeps his intentions in the background till he finds his opportunity.

if there is.” — Diprose : Book of Anecdotes. Dash (turf), to have a dash on a

race is to exceed largely the speculator's ordinary limit of investment.

(Popular), to "cut a dash," to make a great parade, dress showily.

(African Coast patois) a present or gratuity. Guinea negro, dass.

Dasher (common), an extravagant

or "fast" person. She was astonished to find in high life a degree of vulgarity of which her country companions would have been ashamed. .. These young ladies were dashers.-Miss Edgeworth : Almeria.

(Turf), one noted for his smart. ness. With much regret I heard, during my visit to Newmarket, that Mr. - 's condition still continues to cause his family and friends the gravest anxiety. Would I could write better news concerning the dasher, who is one of the best of good fellows. —Sporting Times. Dash my wig, dash my buttons,

senseless evasion of the honester word damn, used at a time when profane oaths were more fashionable than they have since become.

of Aphrodite were the same thing as the Phænician Kedeshoth, repeatedly mentioned in the Old Testament. (E.g. Deut. xxiii. 18.) Such girls are mentioned in the famous inscription in Citium in Cyprus ... under the name of alma, curiously near that of the modern Egyptian alima" (also alma or almeh). Dasis are the dancing girls attached to the pagodas. -Nelson : Madura. Daub (low), a vulgar name for a

painter; properly a coarsely painted picture, what the French

call croûte. Davy (popular), a corruption of

affidavit. Ay, ay, my young coon, said she, or a silver spoon either. I'll take my davy it's only pewter.-Sam Slick. Davy Jones (nautical), a mythi

cal character supposed to typify the depths of ocean. Davy Jones' locker, the bottom of the ocean.

It has been ingeniously con. jectured that the sea, which is so often the sailors' cemetery, was called Jonah's locker, that the prophet's name was corrupted into Jones, and Davy prefixed as being a common name in Wales (Notes and Queries). For other derivation, ride Dr. Charles Mackay's “Gaelic Etymology of the English Language.”

Sailors sometimes call the devil “Old Davy.” This appears to be a diminutive of devil.

Even in the appellations given him (the devil) by familiar or vulgar irreverence, the same pregnant initial prevails, he is the Deuce, and Old Davy, and Davy Jones.Southey: The Doctors.

Dashy, deva-dasi, dasis (Anglo

Indian), girls devoted to dancing and prostitution in the idol temples, especially of Southern India.

"In Hindu deva-dīsi means slave-girl of the gods. The like existed at ancient Corinth under the name of ierodouloi, which is nearly a translation of the Hindu term. These appendages of the worship

Davy—Dead-amiss.

283

Davy putting on the coppers for

the parsons (nautical), the brew

ing of a storm. Davy's sow, or David's sow

(popular). “As drunk as Davy's sow," completely drunk.

Grose says :—" David Lloyd, a Welshman, had a sow with six legs; on one occasion he brought some friends and asked them whether they had ever seen a sow like that, not knowing that in his absence his drunken wife had turned out the animal, and gone to lie down in the sty. One of the party observed that it was the drunkest sow he had ever beheld."

The term may have originated (a mere conjecture) in an allusion to Nell Gywn, one of the mistresses of Charles II. (nicknamed David-his father was called Nebuchadnezzar by the Roundheads), who was credited with every vice by the Earl of Rochester, and of whom he wrote:

... Madam Nelly, Whose first employment was, with open

throat, To cry fresh herrings, even ten a groat.

-A Satire, Other synonymous expressions are, “drunk as a drum, as a wheelbarrow, sow-drunk, drunk as a fish, as a lord, as a piper,

as a fiddler, as a rat.” Dawk (Anglo-Indian), transport,

by means of relays of men and horses; the mail. To lay a dawk is to organise a postal or transport service.

During the mutiny of 1857-58, when several young surgeons had arrived in India, whose services were urgently wanted at the front, it is said that the Head of the Department to which they had reported themselves, directed them to immediately “lay a dawk.” To which one, aghast, replied, “Would you kindly explain, sir--for you might just as well tell me to lay an egg."-- Anglo-Indian Glossary. Dawk-bungalow (Anglo-Indian),

a resting place or house for travellers.

I am inclined to think that the value of life to a dák bungalow fowl must be very trifling.-In my Indian Garden. Daylights (common), the space

left in the glass, and between the liquor and the rim; not permitted in ultra-council gatherings when a toast is to be drunk, The way on such occasions of the proposer of the toast was “no daylights and no heel-taps, but a full bumper."

(Popular), the eyes; to “darken one's daylights," to give a black eye. Good woman! I do not use to be so treated. If the lady says such another word to me, damn me, I will darken her daylights.-Fielding: Amelia. Dead (turf), certainty.

“Dealers in the dead" did well then ; bet after bet was booked about horses which had no more chance of winning than “if they were boiled."-- Bailey's Monthly Magazine. , Dead-alive (popular), a stupid,

dull, slow fellow.

Dead-amiss (racing) is said of a

horse that is incapacitated from winning a race through illness.

Dead as a tent-peg (popular),

from the pegs being buried in the ground. First CLUBMAN.—" Hullo, Bob; heard the news about Macstinger, of the 'Mosquito'?" SECOND CLUBMAN. "No; what's up?" FIRST C.-“Great Scott! it's a case of down, not up, dear boy. He's dead as a tent-peg. Poisoned him. self last night."-Fun.

Varied to “dead as a door nail.” or “dead as a herring," “dead as small beer.”

Dead beat (American), an im

postor ; a man who does not intend to pay his share; an unprofitable sponger.

(Common), to be dead beat, to be utterly exhausted. Dead broke (common), utterly

ruined, penniless. (American), to dead break, to ruin at a gambling game.

This other, a man who had never touched a card, but learnt the game over-night and sat out a seven-hours' play with the chief gamblers, under the fire of their associates, dead-broke them, so that they quitted the camp laughed at by their own pals.-H. L. Williams : Buffalo Bill. Dead cargo (thieves), plunder

that will not recompense for the

risk entailed. Deader (army), a military funeral. Dead finish, the (up - country

Australian), excellent beyond measure; in Cockney slang an “out-and-outer.” Death is a natural metaphor for completeness, for exhaustion or exhaustiveness ; dead is a common prefix, expressing the same idea in “dead on," “dead-nuts,"

“dead certain," “ dead beat,” “dead heat." “He's the dead finish-go right through a man,” rejoins Sam rather. “Blessed if he didn't near skiver my hoss."-A. C. Grant: Bush Life in Queensland. Dead-head (American), one who

stands about a bar to drink at the expense of others.

Sitting on a bench outside the principal hotel are three or four hopelessly abandoned loafers, wearing plainly the stamp of dead-hcad on their shameless features, waiting to be asked to drink, or listening eagerly for the not infrequent “shout for all hands."-A. C. Grant. Dead heat (common), exactly

even. Two men who are equal in anything are said to be a dead heat; from a racing expression. Ay, so ends the tussle. I knew the tan-muzzle was first, though the ring-men were yelling “dead heat." A nose I could swear by, but Clarke said "the mare, by a short head.”—A. L. Gordon : How we Beat the Favourite. Dead-horse (popular), to "draw

the dead-horse" is doing work paid for in advance. The term explains itself. Used also by sailors. Admiral Smyth says that “when they commence earning money again there is in some merchantships a ceremony performed of dragging round the deck an effigy of their fruitless labour in the shape of a horse, running him up to the yard-arm, and cutting him adrift to fall into the sea, amidst loud cheers.” French printers call this manger du salé, to eat salt pork, that is, something that excites thirst; from the fact

that workmen in this case, feeling disinclined for work, pay

frequent visits to the wine-shop. Dead horses (West Indian),

shooting stars. The supersti. tion of the negro mind imagines that shooting stars are the spirits of horses that have been killed by falling over ravines

and precipices. Dead lurk (thieves), breaking

into a house when the inmates

are at church. Deadly lively, to be (common), to be factitiously or unnaturally

jolly. Deadly nevergreen, the (thieves),

the gallows; said also to bear

fruit all the year round. Dead man (provincial), ground

rising higher on one side of a wall than on the other. “There is so much dead man that the house is always damp."

(Popular), a scarecrow; a man made of rags. Possibly a corruption of “dudman,” from cant term duds, for clothes, rags. Also an extra loaf smuggled into the basket by a baker's man, and disposed of by him. Deadman's lurk (thieves), a crafty

scheme laid by swindlers to ex. tort money from the relatives of

a deceased person. Dead marine, dead man (popular),

(popular), an empty bottle, implying that its contents have been alcoholic. The expression doubtless arises from the jealousy, dashed with

a slight flavour of contempt, with which marines are regarded by sailors on board ship. The phrase survives in a famous old drinking-song, set to very spirited music by Jackson of Exeter-an admirable specimen of the ancient popular melodies of England, and of which the well-known chorus wasAnd he who will this toast deny Down among the dead men let him lie.

The word was formerly a marine, which, being used in a company at which William IV., then Duke of Clarence, was present, gave offence to an officer of that gallant corps, who asked the Prince what he meant by it. “I mean by marine,” replied the Prince, with more readiness than was usual with him, “a good fellow who has done his duty, and is ready to do it again." The French term an empty bottle

“un corps mort." Dead meat train (common), a

special train carrying corpses from Waterloo Station to the

London Necropolis at Woking. Dead men's shoes (common), pro

perty which can only be claimed

after the decease of the holder. Dead nap (provincial), a cheat, a

downright rogue. Dead nip (provincial), the failure De

of any petty plan or scheme. Dead nuts on (popular Austra

lian), very fond of. An ampli.

fication of the ordinary English

slang “nuts on." Dead - oh! (naval), is said of a

man in the last stage of intoxi

cation. Dead-on (riflemen), straight on.

A rifle-shot talks of the aiming being dead-on when the day is so calm that he can aim straight at the bull's eye instead of having to allow to the right or left for wind. He is said to be dead-on himself when he is

shooting very well. Dead, on the (common), on the

teetotal tack. Dead is often used as a strengthening adjec. tive, “dead proper,” “dead

sober." Dead season (journalistic), the

time when nothing is going on. For society this is the summer,

or during Lent. Dead sow's eye (tailors), a badly

worked button-hole. Dead stick, to (theatrical), to

stop, to break down utterly in the midst of a performance. The most eminent actors have been subject to sudden and treacherous lapses of memory. Macready has been known to break down in Virginius-a character he had acted thousands of times. Charles Kean has broken down in Othello and Melnotte. On the first night of “Henry IV.” at the Queen's Theatre, Phelps stuck dead or dead stuck in Henry IV., and the actor who played

the Prince of Wales had to

prompt his royal father. Dead stock (common), unsaleable

ware.

The youngest, who was a capless, shoeless little wretch, certainly not more than eight years old, had a "cigar-light" box tucked under his arm; another, a couple of years older, perhaps, carried the stump of a birch broom; while the third, who was the oldest and the hungriest, looking the most decently dressed, held in his hand a few local newspapers-dismally dead stock, considering the day and the hour.- James Greenwood : Crackling's Dole. Dead swag (thieves), plunder that

cannot be got rid of. Dead to rights (police slang), em

ployed by detectives when they have quite convicted a criminal, and he is positively guilty. “I've got him dead to rights." It is often employed in a more general sense to indicate certainty of success. It seems to have ori

ginated in America. Dead 'un (thieves), a house un

occupied temporarily or altogether. Me and the screwsman went to Graves. end and found a dead 'un, and we both went and turned it over.-Horsley : Jot. tings from Jail.

(Thieves and roughs), a half quartern loaf. (Turf), a horse that may be laid against as if he were dead; possibly because he is not going to run, certainly because he is not intended to win. “Racing men,” said Mr. Justice Field, in a memorable case some years ago, "evi. dently have a morality of their own." And it is certain that there are bookmakers or

commission agents-call them what you will-whose honour and rectitude is un questioned in their own circle, but who, so far from shrinking from the idea of getting money out of a dead 'un, will jump at the first opportunity.-Bird o' Freedom.

(Theatrical), a super who plays for nothing. The mistakes that are made in crowds and full scenes is often accounted for by the fact that a super who has attended all rehearsals is shunted at a moment's notice to make room for the dead ’un, who sometimes pays the super master for the privilege of getting behind the scenes as well.

(Popular), to make dead 'uns, explained by quotation. Man has a desire to peck a bit; conse. quently he must in a measure depend upon rogues in grain, the miller, and the baker; and this rule therefore teaches the art and mystery of making what are called dead 'uns; that is, to charge not only for what you deliver, but for what you do not.Diprose: Laugh and Learn. Dead-wood earnest (American),

quite earnest. No! oh, good licks, are you in real dead-wood earnest ?-Mark Twain: Tom Sawyer. Dead wrong 'un (common), a very

dishonest fellow, a cheat.

“Don't you ever speak to that man," said the Immaculate One, “he is a dead wrong 'un. Plays cards, and has big pockets and little fingers. Cheats. Once went into the card room with six coups ready put up in his pocket.”—Sporting Times. Deal suit (popular), a deal coffin

supplied by the parish. Deaner (thieves), shilling.

I know what I will do; I will go to London Bridge rattler (railway) and take

a deaner ride and go a wedge-hunting (stealing plate.)- Rev. J. Horsley : Jot. tings from Jail.

It has been suggested that deaner is from denier, but more probably it is a corruption of

the Yiddish dinoh, a coin. Deansea Ville (old cant), the

country; Deansea Ville stampers,

carriers. Death-hunter (street), a man who

sells dying speeches or confessions of executed criminals.

Also an undertaker. Death on (Australian), good at.

The metaphor is probably that of completeness. Vide DEAD FINISH. “ Death on rabbits,” would mean a very good rabbit shot; “death on peaches," greedy of peaches. The phrase is common in the United States, where a lady over fond of finery is said to be death on

dress. Death-trap (journalistic), a

theatre or other place of amusement made to contain large numbers of people. The expression became general after the burning of several such edifices in 1887. Our laws, too, would enable us to punish persons whose negligence and inattention have been the causes of disaster; but then, as Mr. Punch reminds us, we never think of trying a railway director for a railway accident, or a theatrical lessee and his architect (to say nothing of a bench of magistrates) for erecting or licensing a death-trap. -St. James's Gazette.

Debblish (South Africa), a penny.

Deck (Anglo-Indian), a look, a

peep. Hindu dekh-nă, to look. “ Dek-ho, you bud-mash!'” In English gypsy, dikk. Dicking, from the gypsy, is common English slang for looking.

(American), a pack of cards. Formerly used in England. From the expression “to deck

out.” Decus (old slang), a crown-piece;

from the motto on the edge,

Decus et Tutamen. Dee (tramps), a pocket-book ;

termed “reader” by thieves. Probably an abbreviation of dummy, which see. (Popular) a penny. Kydder. — Hullo, Sneyde, old man, where are you going?

SNEYDE.-Inside, to see our “uncle," and get a bob on this. (Shows his waistcoat done up in newspaper.)

Kydder.-We're both down on our luck again, then. I've just taken in (looks round)-ahem !- the blankets from my lodgings. I'll wait till you come out. (Waits till Sveyde comes out.)

SNEYDE.--He's a hard nail, he is. I've only got nine dee out of him.-The Referce. Deerstalker (society), a wide

awake hat.

Dell (old cant), a young wench.

Brome (“A Jovial Crew, or the Merry Beggars," 1652) gives this word. In Old Dutch slang dil, del, and dille also mean a girl. Dielken, fille de joie (Derenbourg). Thiele, a Jewish girl, especially a young one. In German-Hebrew dilla also means a maiden. It is possible that dilly-dally, in the sense of philandering and amorous trifling, is derived from dill or dell. Finally the gypsy has del (lit. to give) in the sense of sexual

union, “ Del adré o minj." Deloll (Anglo-Indian), a broker.

In Egypt a pedlar of old clothes,

a street dealer. Delving it (tailors), hurrying,

keeping the head down, sewing

fast. Demand the box, to (nautical), to

call for a bottle. Demaunders for glymmar (old

cant), explained by quotation.

These demaunders for glymmar be for the most parte wemen, for glymmar in their language is fyre. These go with fayned lycences and counterfayted writ. ings, hauing the hands and seales of such gentlemen as dwelleth nere to the place where they fayne themselues to haue bene burnt, and their goods consumed with fyre.-Harman : Caveat. Demi-rep (old), a woman of

questionable character-abbrevation of “demi-reputation.” ... arrant rascals, male and female... demi-reps and lorettes, single and unmar ried. -Quarterly Review, Dem keb (London), a hansom ; a

"masher” phrase from Gilbert's

him," but more precisely deller, done, draw; dellin, hitting or kicking; dellin leskro, “a givin' of him ;” dellemengro, a horse

that kicks. Delaben (gypsy), a gift. Delicate (begging impostors), a

sham subscription-book.

Demmy—Despatchers.

289

“Wedding March.” “Let's

take a dem keb." Demmy cit (American cadet), a

townsman (cit., citizen) who is

dressed as a gentleman. Demon chandler (nautical), one

who supplies ship's stores of
a worthless character-often
utterly unfit for use and food.
I snubbed skipper for bad grub, rotten

flour to eat, Hard tack full of weevils; how demon

chandlers cheat ! Salt junk like mahogany, scurvying man

and boy. Says he, “Where's your remedy?' Board of Trade, ahoy!

-Sailors' Language. Demons (Australian), prison slang

for police. “The demons put pincher on me," I was appre

hended. Dempstered (old cant), hung; from

“dempster," the executioner, so called because it was his duty to repeat the sentence to the prisoner in open court.

This was discontinued in 1773. Denounce, to (American). In the

West to pre-empt land, to announce a title to it.

You ain't got no right to come prospect. ing around now. I've denounced it allit's all mine.-F. Francis: Saddle and Moccasin. Dep (popular), a deputy. (Christ's

Hospital), a Grecian. Derby darlings, or D.D.'s (Ame

rican), a term applied to women who wear Derby hats.

The late decidedly masculine tendency in fashionable female headgear has brought

out a new type of girl of the period and coined a new phrase to describe her. The girls who promenade up and down Chest. nut Street these fair autumn days, arrayed in men's stiff hats, are now called Derby girls, or Derby darlings. This is occasionally abbreviated into D.D. in such forms as “there goes a D.D.," or "she's a regular D.D.”—Philadelphia Times. Derbyshire neck, a term for

the goitrous neck, owing to its

prevalence in Derbyshire. Derrey (thieves), an eye-glass ;

hence the expression used by tailors to “take the derrey," to

quiz, ridicule. Derrick (old cant). In the days

prior to the appearance in public life of the better known Jack Ketch, Derrick signified the hangman, from the supposed name of a then existing functionary. The word occurs in “ The Bellman of London,” an old play, published in 1616, the year of Shakspeare's death. “He rides circuit with the devil, and Derrick must be his host, and Tyburn the inn at which he will alight.”

To derrick, “a cant term for setting out on a small but not over-creditable enterprise. The act is said to be named from a Tyburn executioner" (Admiral

Smyth). Derwenter (Australian), a con

vict. So called from the River Derwent, in Tasmania, which, like New South Wales and West Australia, was originally a convict settlement. Cf. “Vandemonian” and “Sydney-sider." Despatchers (gambling cheats),

according to Hotten false dice

with two sets of numbers, and, of course, no pips. So called because they bring the matter to a speedy issue.

Detrimentals (society), a very

common term in society for those who are not well off, and therefore detrimental as hus bands.

Deuce (popular), twopence. From

the French

Deux wins (old cant), twopence. Devil, a barrister who does work

for another, termed "devilling.”' The devil gets up the case for a seniorin large practice,generally without any remuneration. It is almost also an official designation. The Attorney-General's devil for the Treasury is a post of £1500 a year. The Attorney-General has also devils in Chancery, as, for instance, the “charity devil,” for the matters in which he is officially concerned. The Attorney-General's devil in the Treasury, after a certain probation, is often promoted to the bench. He is, in fact, a sort of junior AttorneyGeneral. On circuit, no one is allowed to devil for another un. less he is a member of the same circuit, and the barrister for whom he devils is actually en. gaged in some other court on that circuit.

(Printers), a printer's junior apprentice or errand boy.

(Literary), explained by quo. tation.

“Who are you?" I asked in dismay.
"I'm a devil."...
"A what!” I exclaimed with a start.

“A devil. ... I give plots and incidents to popular authors, sir. Write poetry for them, drop in situations, jokes, work up their rough material : in short, sir, I devil for them."--George R. Sims: The Author's Ghost. Devil a plebe, to (American ca

dets), to victimise or revile a

new cadet. Devil and Tom Walker, the

(American), an old saying once common in New England to the effect that it “beats the devil and Tom Walker,” or “he fared as Tom Walker did with the devil.” In the Marvellous Repository, a curious collection of tales, many of which are old Boston legends, there is one of Tom Walker, who sold himself to the devil. The

book was published about 1832. Devil-dodger (popular), clergy

man.

These devil-dodgers happened to be so very powerful (that is, noisy) that they soon sent John home crying out, he should be damn'd.-Life of j. Sackington, Devil drawer (old slang), a poor,

miserable artist. Devils (common), small wheels

soaked in resin, and used for

lighting fires. Devil's among the tailors, the

(common), i.e., there's a disturb. ance going on. “This phrase,” says Mr. Edwards,“ arose in connection with a riot at the Haymarket on an occasion when Dowton announced the performance for his benefit of a burlesque entitled “The Tailors: a Tragedy

once obtained from the devil his eye-tooth, which had the power of changing all metals into gold. The losing and find. ing of this tooth by several persons forms the subject of a

popular tale. Devil's guts (old slang), a term

given by farmers to the sur

veyor's chain. Devil's livery (nautical), black and

yellow. From the colours being

used for mourning or quarantine. Devil's Own, the Inns of Court

Rifle Volunteers. Devil-scolder (popular), a clergy.

man.

for Warm Weather.' At night, many thousands of journey. men tailors congregated in and around the theatre, and by riotous proceedings interrupted the performances. Thirty-three of the rioters were brought up at Bow Street the next day. A full account of the proceedings will be found in Biographica Dramatica under the heading

• Tailors.'” Devil's bedposts (common), the

four of clubs. Devil's claws (prison), explained

by quotation.

A Scotch cap, worsted stockings, and a pair of shoes, completed the uniform of a full private in Her Majesty's Convict Service. This uniform was decorated all over with the devil's claws (the broad arrow).-Evening News. Devil's daughter (common), a

scolding, shrewish wife. Devil's delight, a disturbance or

quarrel of more than usual vehemence. To “ kick up the devil's delight” is to indulge in drunken

and obstreperous joviality. Devil's dust, scraps and remnants

of old woollen garments sent to the mill to be remanufactured in the semblance of good cloth, commonly known among manu. facturers—who use the word

satirically—as “shoddy." Devil's golden tooth, the (Ameri

can). “One would think he'd found the devil's golden tooth,” a common saying in Massachu. setts. Founded on a story to the effect that Kidd, the pirate,

Devil's sharpshooters(American),

a nicknamegiven by “the church militant" to those of the clerical party who in the Mexican War belied their cloth and profession; also to any person

favouring unjust war. Devil's teeth (common), dice. Devil to pay, the (common), an

allusion to the legendary tales of the Middle Ages, in which, in exchange for the enjoyment of unlimited wealth, power, or other earthly advantage, a man was supposed to have sold his

soul to the devil. Devil to pay and no pitch hot

(nautical). The seam which margins the water-ways was called the “devil.” Why, only caulkers can tell, who perhaps found it sometimes difficult for their tools. The phrase, however,

means service expected, and no one ready to perform it. Impatience and naught to satisfy

it (Admiral Smyth). Dew-drink (labourers), an early

drink. French, "une goutte pour tuer le ver," the worm being thought to be more than

usually thirsty in the morning. Dewskitch (popular), a severe

thrashing; perhaps from "catch

ing one's due.” Dial-plate (common), the face.

“To turn the hands on his dial

plate,” i.e., to disfigure the face. Dials (prison), members of the

criminal class who live about

the Seven Dials in London. Diamond - cracking (Australian

thieves' patter), stonebreaking. The metaphor is obvious, breaking “ those precious stones.” He caught a month and had to white it out at diamond-cracking in “Castieau's Hotel."-The Australian Printers' Kecte sake.

In England, diamond cracking refers to working in a coal.

mine. Diary, to (American thieves), to

remember.

the knuckle bones of sheep, which have been used from the earliest times for gambling purposes when money was not obtainable-in one particular game five being thrown up at a time and caught on the back of the band like half-pence. This resembles the common children's game of "jackstones.' The French call it “jeu des osselets.” (Thieves), “flash your

dibs,” show your money. Dick, dikk, to (gypsy, also common cant), to see, to look. Hotten says this is “ North country cant,” but it is found in all gypsy dialects. (Hindu, dekhna.) Dikkaméngro, a look. ing-glass, also dikkaméngri, both referring to anything used in connection with seeing, such as spectacles, lorgnons, or telescopes. The latter would be a dūro - dikkamengri — a far- seething. Tu sāste dikkarit, you should have seen it.

Dick at the Garjers (gorgias)
The Garjers round mandy,
Trying to lel my meriben

My meriben away. I.e., “See the gorgios round me trying to take my life away."

Dick - kālo, to look black, frown; dick-dūm, I saw (seldom heard); dick-pūli, look back, re.

call. Dicker (American), exchange or

barter.

It may be for their interest to make the dicker.- New York Tribune. Dick in the green (thieves),

weak, inferior, poor. A pun on

Dib (common), a portion or share.

Dibs (common), money.

The — trots round with a tin plate or a royal dish-cover, and collects dibs for the Imperial Institute. He exhibits himself at football matches and Church bazaars on consideration of nailing the coin for his pet scheme. --- Modern Society.

So called, says Hotten, from

the word “dicky," as bolt-in. tun is on "to bolt.”

Dicky, or Dick in the green, very bad or paltry; anything of an inferior quality is said to be a “ Dicky concern” (Vaux's

Memoirs). Dick's hatband, as queer as

(provincial), anything strange or peculiar. This phrase, which Bartlett claimed as an Ameri. canism, is in reality an English provincial simile, and correctly given is, “As queer as Dick's hatband made of pea straw that went nine times round, and would not meet at last.” The origin of the phrase may be due to the oddness of using such a material for the purpose. Dick, up to (popular), all right,

up to the mark, good and satis

factory. Dicky (common), middling, inferior. And how's the fielding?

Dicky! 'Tis there you'll have the pull that

wickets sticky Or cut up, through the influence of

weather, Can't neutralise.

-Punch. It's all dicky or dickey with him, it's all over with him. "Tis all dickey with poor Father Dick; he's no more.

-Ingoldsby Legends. (London slang), smart, a swell.

(Popular), explained by quotation. "I saw a laden waggon bearing the name of one of the cheap advertising firms you speak of." ... "Ah, bearing the

name . . . you saw a waggon wearing a dicky, you mean-a false front plate with a name on it which slips on and off like them on the wans that the pianofortemakers borrow."-J. Greenwood : LowLife Deeps.

(Theatrical), “dicky domus," literally a bad, poor house, one

with a small audience. Dicky birds (theatrical), a generic

term which includes vocalists of every description, from Madame Patti down to a singer in the

chorus. Diddle, to (vulgar), to cheat in an artful way.

O that Tommy Riddle,
What played upon the fiddle,
Has managed for to diddle me
Of my true love.

- Popular Song. Diddler (common), an impecunious

scamp, a swindler. See Jeremy
Diddler (Kenny's farce of “Rais-
ing the Wind”), or his more
modern prototype, Jingle, in
“Pickwick.”

Didoes. Vide To Cut DIDOES.

Die in one's shoes, to (common),

to be hanged. The metaphor is not happy, as men may die elsewhere than on the gallows with their boots on. And there is M‘Fuze, and Lieutenant

Tregooze ; And there is Sir Carnaby Jenks, of the

Blues, All come to see a man die in his shoes !

--Ingoldsby Legends. Die, or dee (thieves), a pocket

book, but specially the dummy or pocket-book stuffed with flash bank bills used by a “dropper."

being believed that dog is the word God reversed. “I'll be dogged " is the common form, and it is really never used to seriously signify anything so extreme as eternal condemnation. It is possibly a New York word, and may therefore be derived from the Dutch daugen, to summon to judgment, to arraign. If this be so, there would be a very apparent connection with condemned.

Dog-collar (common), a stiff,

stand-up collar, one of the kind much in favour among dandies.

was a regular cutting sneak when I was at school. - Dickens : Oliver Twist. Dodger (common), a tricky per

son, a swindler. Dickens has immortalised the word by his character of the Artful Dodger in Oliver Twist. (Popular), a dram. (Provincial), a nightcap, hence the latter meaning. (American), this term, meaning a round roll or pat of maizebread, is apparently derived from the same word as applied to any object of a similar shape (e.g., in vulgar slang, the penis). In Dutch, dag or dagje (en endtje dagg) means a short bit of rope. Dot or dotje is also a ball of wool, cotton, &c., generally

spoiled, decaying, or in a mass. Dodo (old), a common expression

for a fussy old man, orde.

crepit man. Dod-rottedest (American), a eu

phemistic form of swearing ; sometimes “dod-fetched,”“dodgasted." Well, sir, there was the dod-rottedest machine you ever saw. A nice-looking man with black whiskers was turning away at a big balance. wheel made of champagne bottles. — Superior Inter Ocean.

Dog - durned (West American),

a mild form of swearing. Probably an euphemism for God damned.

Bird declared that he would be dog. durned if he was going to run his interior (he called it by some other name) out a-driv. ing the stock any further ahead-durned it he would.-F. Francis : Saddle and Moccasin. Doggery (American), a partial

anagram of groggery. A low drinking place, a “rum-bucketshop,” a “dive,” a “gin-mill,” a “boozing-ken,” a “rum-icile," a “drunkery." Not one word can be justly said against the character or ability of any of the nominees. They are in every way immensely superior to their Democratic opponents, who number among them as far as the nominations have gone half-a-dozen dogo gery.keepers, a crooked ex-gager, a policecourt shyster, and a railroad lobbyist. Two or three other doggery-keepers and a lobbyist or two and Van Pelt will be added before the Democratic nominations close. The “Reds" and the “side-show" people will hardly elect any of their men unless

Dog (society), a man; a gay dog,

a jolly dog, a careless dog, &c. The word dog now has come to mean in society a gentleman of an amorous turn of mind, who has great success among the ladies.

(American), dog, dog-goned, God and God damned, as it is popularly explained ; it

they are indorsed by the Democrats.Chicago Tribune.

(Popular), nonsense. Dogs (Stock Exchange), New

foundland Land Co. Shares. Dog's body (nautical), a kind of

pease-pudding. Dog-shooter (Royal Military Aca

demy). Cadets thus term a student who accelerates, that is, who, being pretty certain of not being able to obtain a commission in the engineers, or not caring for it, elects to join a superior class before the end of the term. An allusion to a volunteer, called a dog-shooter.

marked by a little heap of excavated earth. -F. Francis ; Saddle and Moccasin. Doing a bishop (army), turning

out for parade at short notice, and with small preparation for

cleaning up, &c. Doing a bunk or doing a shift

(common), attending to nature's needs.

Doing a nob (circus and show

men), making a collection of money from spectators (Frost's “Circus Life”).

Possibly from the gypsy nobbet. Doing a star pitch (theatrical),

sleeping in the open. French, “ coucher à l'hôtel de la Belle

Étoile. Doing it on the d. h. (common).

I could do it on my d. h., i.e., on my head, is a vulgar assurance of being able to do a thing with the greatest ease.

Dog's nose (common), gin and

beer; “so called from the mix. ture being as cold as a dog's nose,” say several etymologists. It is also applied to a man given to whisky.

Dog's paste, (popular), sausage,

mince-meat. Dog's soup (common), rain water. Dog stealer (common), a faceti

ous appellation for a dog.dealer, who is generally considered as deserving it. Dog's tail (nautical), a name for

the constellation Ursa Minor,

or Little Bear. Dog-town (American), a colony

of prairie dogs.

The prairie dogs had colonised in a part of this, the upper end of the valley, and we traversed a dog-town some acres in extent, each underground habitation of which was

Doing out (American thieves),

a device by which a thief, if arrested with a confederate, pleads guilty but acquits the

other. Doing polly (prison), picking

oakum in jail. Doings (American), any kind of

food, but in most instances applied to that of an ordinary

sort.

Suppose you drop roun' ter-morrer an' take dinner wid me. We ain't got no great doins at our house, but I speak de old 'oman ... kin sorter scramble roun' 'em git up sump'n.- Uncle Remus.

Doing time (thieves) refers to a

term of imprisonment.

Doldrums (nautical and provin

cial), trouble, low spirits, worri. ment. “Jack in the Doldrums”. was the title of a tale or novel. Applied sometimes to a stormy place, or where the weather or navigation is bad. For then I must surely die, And my soul sail off to Doldrum's isle, Unless some one pities my pain And carries me down where the waters

boil, And pitches me in again.

-The Song of the Merman. The term seems to have be. come general. Probably from dull (with the sense of doleful), and a facetious suffix, as in tantrums. For other derivations vide Dr. Charles Mackay's “Gaelic Etymology of the

English Language.” Dole (Winchester College), a trick,

stratagem; from the Latin dolus.

Doll's christening (provincial), a

party consisting entirely of

ladies. Dolly (popular), silly, foolish.

“You are a chit and a little idiot," re. turned Bella, “or you wouldn't make such a dolly speech."-Dickens : Our Mutual Friend.

(Society), a dolly, a prostitute, a street walker, short for dollymop; also a mistress. Drink, and dance, and pipe, and play, Kisse our dollies night and day.

-Herrick: Hesperides. (Anglo-Indian), Hindu, dāli, a present of fruit, flowers, and sweetmeats; also the daily offering of flowers usually made by the molly (mali) called “the molly with his dolly.” In some parts of India the dolly has grown into an extravagance consisting sometimes of bushels of fruit, nuts, and confectionery, with bottles of champagne and liqueurs.

(Tailors), a bit of cloth used as a sponge. Dolly-mop (common), a tawdrily

dressed servant girl, a semi

prostitute. Dolly-shop (common), a pawn.

broker's shop of the poorest and lowest description. From the Yiddish dal or dol, poor, which suggested the hanging up a doll as a sign for such places. “That's a dolly-shop,” said the greengrocer; “sort of pawnbroker's without a license, where they charge threepence in the shilling per week on what they lend you. The young 'un went there to raise a sixpence, I'll be bound."-James Greenwood: Three Half-Crowns.

Dollar (city), a five-shilling piece.

Dollop (old slang), a lump, a

share. To share, according to Hotten, derived from “dole up," to deal out in small portions. Dutch, deal, a share.

The old gal used to stow a whacking lot in a big pocket she had in her petticut, and I used to put away a dollop in the busum of ny shirt, which it was tied round the waist-bag hid underneath my trousers for the purpose. But, Lor' bless yer, sometimes the blessed trade would go that aggravatin' that we would both find ourselves loaded up in no time.-Seven Curses of London.

Domum ball (Winchester College),

a ball given by the superannuated college prefects on the evening after the “men” go home for the Midsummer holidays.

Don, a contraction of the Latin

dominus. It is a university term for a man who has taken his master's degree. It is, however, generally confined to resi. dent M.A.'s. An “Oxford M.A." writes :—“This University has, I suppose, been always notorious for narrow-minded bigotry; but ought the general public to be allowed to suffer because Mr. , as a robust Radical, is not easily stomached of the Tory don?"-Pall Mall Gazette.

(Winchester), a master.

Dom (Anglo-Indian), a very low

caste, representing some very old aboriginal race. It was first suggested by Charles G. Leland that the origin of the Rom or gypsies should be sought in this caste, and recent researches by Grierson have gone far to con. firm the conjecture. Thus D and R are convertible in the Hindu-gypsy dialects, e.g., doi, a spoon, and roi. And while dom, domni, and domnipana mean in India a dom, a female, dom, romni, romnipana, or romni. pen have exactly the same meaning in gypsy as applied to

gypsies and gypsydom. Do me proud (American), equi

valent to saying that one is complimented or made to feel proud. “Sez he, 'You're an honour to your section.' Sir," I answered, “ you do me proud." Domino (nautical), “a common

ejaculation,” says Hotten, "of sailors when they receive the last lash of a flogging." The allusion may be understood from

the game of dominoes. Domino thumper (theatrical), a

pianist. Dominoes (popular), the teeth.

French slang, jeu de dominos. Dommerar (old cant), a variety of

the mendicant tribe who pretend to be deaf and dumb.

These dommerars are leud and most subtyll people: the most part of these are watch men, and wyll neuer speake, vnlesse they haue extreame punishment.-Har. man : Caveat.

Dona, donah (theatrical), a girl, a

woman; from the Italian. The term is also used by tramps, London roughs, &c. Of course you've been to — to see

the pantomime, Where fairies sport in clothes so smart,

in manner quite divine. Ofcourse you've seen the Fairy Queen,

they call her Mademoiselle, Well, perhaps you won't believe it, but that donah is my gal. --Geo. Anthony : Mary turns

the Mangle.

Donaker (old), a cattle stealer.

Done (common), outwitted,

cheated. And immediately afterwards follows a well-known theatrical costumier, who has been done in the matter of fancy dresses by a gentleman connected with an amateur dramatic performance.-The Graphic.

Done also means exhausted, varied to “done up;” done for

himself, injured or ruined himself.

Lord Randolph is much mistaken if he supposes that it is only an aristocratic friend here and there who believes that he has done for himself.-Pall Mall Gazette. Done brown (common), befooled,

that is, completely done. And they stared at each other, as much as

to say, “Hollo! Hollo! here's a rum go! Why, captain !-my lord !-- here's the

devil to pay ! The fellow's been cut down and taken

away! What's to be done? We've missed all

the fun! Why, they'll laugh at and quiz us all over

the town, We are all of us done so uncommonly brown."

-Ingoldsby Legends. Done-over (popular), intoxicated. Done to death (society), repeated

ad nauseam. Wasted a shilling in Bond Street by going to Harry Furniss' " Artistic Joke." Why Artistic? And, emphatically, why Joke? Caricature of Academy pictures done to death in comic journals with utmost regularity for many past years.Sporting Times. Donkey (nautical,) a seaman's box in which he keeps his clothes.

(Printers.) Compositors are sometimes called donkeys by pressmen by way of retaliation for calling them “pigs.”

(Streets), “Who stole the donkey?" This was and still is a common street cry in Houndsditch and the other Hebrew quarters of London when a man wearing a white hat makes his appearance. The low Jews had or have a notion that no one but

a Christian-and certainly no Jew-ever wears a white hat. They also have a saying that the Founder of Christianity stole the donkey on the back of which He rode into Jerusalem. Hence the expression.

(Common), “ Three more and up goes the donkey,” that is, three pennies more and the donkey will go up the ladder. This phrase, used by mountebanks to denote that the performance will begin when the sum required is complete, is often said mockingly to a braggart to imply disbelief in accounts of his

own wonderful performances. Donkey-riding (popular), cheat

ing in weight and measure. Donny (prison), a woman. From

the Italian dona. Don's week (tailors), the week

before a general holiday. Don't go off before you start

(American), a common exhortation to any one not to be in “too precious" or too great a hurry. Well, hold on now, I'm goin' to tell you. Don't go off before you start! as de darkey said to de baulky mule.Brudder Bones. Dookering (gypsies), fortune.

telling; from doorik, to pro

phesy. Dookie (theatrical), a penny show

or unlicensed theatre, usually fitted up in a large room or a cellar in a populous neighbour. hood. The eminent tragedian,

Charles Dillon, emerged from dose, or punish him, doubtless one of these in his youth, and .. comes from a dose of medicine, handsome Conway, once the but it is not impossible the Yid. spoiled child of fashion, ad dish dose, dosz or dasz (Chaldaic), mired and idolised by the belles meaning the law, has influenced of Bath-notably by Madame the word in this peculiar case. Piozzi (Johnson's Mrs. Thrale) (Old cant), a burglary. -found a temporary refuge at

Doshed, I'm, an exclamation of one of them when driven from the patent theatres by the brutal

surprise, akin to “dashed.” persecution of “that ferocious Doss (tramps and popular), a literary ruffian, Theodore Hook”. bed. (Byron). There are three or As the sombre shades of evening begin four performances a night at to cast their darkening shadows over the a dookie, and the audience is

earth, the majority of the troops will return

to their respective quarters, and soon after usually composed of juvenile

nine o'clock the greater number will be harlots and thieves. Many of comfortably tucked in doss (bed) for the these places of resort still night. —Patterson : Life in the Ranks. flourish at the East End.

Dr. Charles Mackay says: Dookin-cove, a fortune-teller; "Hotten supposes it to be derived from the gypsy dookering or

from doze,' as a place to sleep dukkerin, telling fortunes.

in; or quite as likely,” he adds,

“from dorse, the back. It is, howDoor nail, dead as a. Vide DEAD

ever, most likely from neither AS A TENT PEG.

of these, but from the Gaelic Door steps (Whitechapel slang), dos, a hedge or bush, under which

slices of bread and butter. “I tramps very often find their only say, guvnor, give us a pennorth available resting-place for the of weak and two door steps.” night-the money failing them

to secure a shelter in a low Dope, to (American). Doping is

lodging-house." According to the stupifying men with tobacco

Dr. Brewer, “ Doss is a hassock prepared in a peculiar way, as

full of straw, a bed-properly a the gypsies of old were wont to

straw bed. Dossel is an old word use Datura stramonium. From

for a bundle of hay or straw." old cant dope, a simpleton, dupe.

This derivation is the more proNine out of ten saloons in the slums

bable, and is borne out by the employ doping as a means to increase their illicit revenue.-American Newspaper. French slang word picu, bed, Doras (Stock Exchange), South

from piau, straw, straw bed, Eastern Railway Deferred Or

which has given piqusser to dinary Stock

sleep, modernised into pioncer.

It also means sleep. Dose (thieves), a sentence of im.

There is only about one of them in prisonment. To give a man his London where a fellow can do a comfort

able doss, and that is St. Pancras's. - Thor Fredur: Sketches in Shady Places.

The author of “Sketches in Shady Places "remarks:—“Doss, slang term for sleep-meaning to lie on the back.' On examination it will startle one to find how many of these vulgarisms are derived directly from

the learned languages." Dosser, the, the father of a

family. From provincialism dos,

a dandy. Dossers (common), explained by

quotation.

The "'appy dossers" are the wretched people who roam about the street houseless, and creep in to sleep on the stairs, in the passages and untenanted cellars of the lodging houses with the doors open night and day.---George R. Sims: How the Poor Live.

An extremely elegant cloak was formerly termed a dossal.

Hence perhaps the expression. Dot (nautical), a ribbon ; a dot

drag, a watch ribbon. Do the high, to (Oxford Univer

sity), to walk up and down the High Street on Sunday even

ings. Do time, to (popular), to serve

one's time in prison.

Burns is about fifty-seven years old, and has a national reputation as an expert cracksman. He has done time in Joliet, Sing Sing, and Nashville, Tenn. He was pardoned from the latter institution one year ago, after serving three-quarters of a ten years' sentence.--Inter Ocean. Do to tie to (American), trust

worthy, fit to associate with.

The only safe class of citizens, the class that will do to tie to, are those who believe in the condign punishment of all crimewho believe that a Government is great, not in proportion as it forgives criminals, but in proportion as it punishes them and enforces law and order. It will be a dark day for the Republic when this class shall not outnumber both of the others combined. - Indianapolis Journal. Dots (American), items of infor

mation.

“Lieutenant Arnold," he continued, "remarked he could give dots on a great many of them; that one-a very prominent one--naming him, was in the habit of visiting a house south of the avenue twice a week. I said that is none of our business; though we might know these things officially, we do not know them in any other capacity."-Chicago Tribune.

(Popular), money. Dotter (low), a penny-a-liner, a

reporter,

Doss-house (tramps and thieves),

a lodging-house, especially the common lodging-houses where

beds are fourpence a night. Dossing-crib (costermongers), a

low lodging-house. Doss, to (tramps, popular, &c.),

to sleep. Vide Doss.
A newspaper sheet I will borrow,

And make up my face very white,
There will be a schlemozzle to-morrow,
I shall doss in the Square to-night.

-Sporting Times. Dossy (popular), elegant; very

dossy, in elegant style.

Joe Capp made a resolve a little while ago when on the eve of a mashing expedi. tion to do the whole thing very dossy. "Ere dom it," said Joe, “yew la'ads all go about in shiny boots, steerewth an' all, and i'll have a pair, see if I woant."Sporting Times.

Dottle (popular), a well-coloured

black stump of a clay pipe. Dotty (popular), cracked, silly. She's sent away the chairs, and the carpet

off the stairs, I'm getting just as lean as any ghost; The bedstead and the drawers have been

sacrificed because She went dotty through that dreadful Parcels Post.

-Song. An appellation used for one's man by females of the lower

classes or prostitutes. Double (thieves), a turning in a

road.

I had not been at Sutton very long before I piped a slavey come out of a chat (house), so, when she had got a little way up the double, I pralted (went) into the house. --Horsley : Jottings from Jail. Double-breasted feet (tailors),

club feet. Double-double, to put on the, a

process wherein a thief, having arranged with other thieves to lose a race, so that they may safely “lay" against him, de

ceives them and runs to win. Double event (common), properly

a technical term used on the turf when a man bets on both sides to meet either contingency

-used in a slangy sense. DEAR Sır-Unquestionably there is such a thing as luck. The other night I was under the impression that I should have two stalls for the Haymarket. I promised one to an aged Hebraic tart. As a matter of fact, I only got one, which, in the in. terests of your paper, I naturally filled. I thoroughly disenjoyed my evening, and the aged one won't speak to me now. Such a double event is only due to luck.-Yous sincerely,

SIR WALTER The Pooferies. - Sporting Times.

Double-finn (low), a ten-pound

note. Double lines (nautical), ships'

casualties. From the mode of

entering in books at Lloyds'. Doubles (printers). If a composi

tor repeats a line or sentence in composing, he is said to have made a double. Doublet (thieves), a spurious dia

mond. Dough, pudding at public and

military schools. Dover (hotel), a réchauffé ; a cor

ruption of “do over,” or do

over again. Dovers (Stock Exchange), South

Eastern Railway Ordinary Stock. Dowd (popular), for dowdy;

showily dressed.
But a crummy old Liberal dowd,
With bare shoulders by acres, old boy.

- Punch. Dowlas, according to Hotten, a

linen-draper. Dowlas is a kind

of towelling. Dowlings (Shrewsbury School).

There are four or five compulsory games a week (football) known as dowlings (doudos). -Everyday Life in our Public Schools. Down (thieves), suspicion, alarm,

or discovery which obliges one to desist from the business or depredation he was engaged in.

(Popular), to be “down in," to be at a low ebb, lacking in, out of. “Down in blunt," lacking money. “ Down upon one's

luck," unfortunate. Perhaps originally "down in one's luck.” To be “down in the mouth,” dejected, disconsolate, crestfallen. But what have you got to say for your. self, why you should leave me here, down in the mouth, health, blunt, and everything else ? - Charles Dickens : Oliver Twist.

To be “ down on one,” to be opposed to, to lose no oppor. tunity for punishing, to main

tain constant enmity or ill-will. My pa is a bishop of spotless renown, On all that is naughty his reverence is

down; But I should delight in the sights of the

town, Yet am doomed to the utmost propriety!

- George Anthony: The Clergy.

man's Daughter. Down a pit (theatrical), despe

rately smitten with a part. Down-easter (West American), a

person from the east.
A“ wooden-mugged down-easter" with
bushy eyebrows, and quick, twinkling
eyes, who sang over and over again, “Oh,
my little darling, I love you! Oh, my little
darling, yes, I do!” had the second in
charge.-F. Francis : Saddle and Moc.
casin.
Downed (English and American),

conquered, tricked, cheated.
Literally not getting the upper
hand.
“ Then this money may ease your dis.

tress-
But I hope I'm not sold, 'tis the truth you

have told?" " The truth, sir!” she murmured.

“M'yes !' But therein she lied, 'twas a stratagem

"wide,' She'd a couple of pals in the "plant;" And the stranger was downed.

--Sporting Times.

Downer (popular), a sixpence.

According to Barrow from the gypsy word tawno, or little one. The word seems, however, to be a

variant of “deaner," which see. Down on the bed rock (West

American), penniless.

I was mighty hard up at the time-right down on the bed rock-and it is just pos. sible that I may have been monkeying with the cards a little.-F. Francis : Saddle and Moccasin.

Downs, the (thieves), Tothill • Fields' prison. Down the road (popular), stylish,

in fashionable style. Down to the ground (English and

American), thoroughly, completely;“right up to the handle," that suits me down to the ground. It implies probably from top to bottom. Downy (common), to do the

downy, to keep in bed in the morning.

This'll never do . . . cutting chapel to do the downy.-C. Bede : Verdant Green.

(Popular and thieves), cunning, skilful.

Upper benjamins built on a downy plan.-Slang Advertisement.

"I suppose you don't know what a prig is?" said the Dodger mournfully. “I am, I'd scorn to be anything else --so's Charley, so's Fagin, so's Sikes, so's Nancy, so's Bet. So we all are, down to the dog. And he's the downiest one of the lot!”– Dickens : Oliver Twist.

A “downy cove," a cunning fellow, one who “knows what's o'clock.” An allusion to his having the upper hand in his dealings with others.

Downy-looking cove, the fair 'un; a mug like that ought to be worth a fortune to him.-J. Greenwood : Dick Temple. Downy Bible (tailors), corruption

of Douay Bible; equivalent to

“according to Cocker." Dowry (common), a very great

deal, an excess. Hotten says this is probably from the gypsy, but there is nothing like it in Romany. It is just possibly from the Yiddish dowor, a thing (or word); dowrin beteilim, superfluous things. Dowor would, like res, refer to pro

mysteries of poison and reme. dies, suggesting “up to trap"

in English slang. Drafting on the camp (Austra

lian), explained by quotation.

Drafting on the camp, or cutting out, as it is generally called, is a very pretty performance to watch, if it is well done. First of all a small mob is cut off from the main body of the cattle, and driven gently away for a little distance, and then allowed to stand. This is the nucleus of the draft mob, for no beast will stand still a moment by itself, and one of the hands is told off to watch them. One or two men then ride in among the cattle, and draft out the ones they want, one at a time, while the rest of the hands ride round the camp and keep the cattle from breaking away.-FinchHatton : Advance Australia.

perty.

Dowser (popular), a man who tells

fortunes ; a kind of wizard who pretends to be able to find water or treasures by means of a divin

ing-rod. Doxy (canting), a mistress, a

“moll,” generally used in a disreputable sense, but “in the West of England women frequently call their little girls • doxies' in a familiar and endearing sense” (Hotten). This probably is the original meaning. Lastly I will cleave to my doxy, wap stiffly, and will bring her duds.---Life of Bamfylde Moore Carew. Do you see anything green in my

eye? (popular), Doyou think that I am to be taken in or gulled. “Green” is a synonym for unsophisticated, simple - minded, the equivalent in French being cornichon, a gherkin, alluding to

the colour. Drab (gypsy), poison or medicine;

"up to drab,” knowing all the

Drag (low), a woman's dress

when assumed by men for a frolic or a fraud.

(Thieves), a term of three months' imprisonment, termed also “tray moons.” ... But neither Snuffy (Reeves, the identifier) nor Mac (Macintyre) knew me, so I got a drag, and was sent to the Steel. -Horsley: Jottings from Jail.

Well, sir, as I was saying, I only got a drag for that last job. Oh, I beg pardon, a drag means three mo.ths. Three weeks is called a drag, too-a cadger's drag. ---James Greenwood : Seven Years' Penal Servitude.

(Popular), to go upon a drag, to go about for pleasure.

Also a lure, trick, stratagem. Dragged (tailors), behind time. Dragging (thieves), robbing pro

perty from carts or cabs. (Provincial), dragging - time, the evening of a country fair day, when the young men begin

310

Dragging—Draw.

supposed to be a corruption of the vulgar curse, “God rot it!" It is a form of drcadeth or dread and drad, fear or dread (AngloSaxon). Drat occurs in Piers Plowinan and Guy of Warwick.

kissing the girls and pull them

about. Dragging the pudding (tailors),

getting the sack just before

Christmas. Draggletail (common), a dirty,

drunken woman; a prostitute

of the lowest class. Dragsman (thieves), a thief who

robs carriages by climbing up behind.

Drain (common), a drink.

“A drain for the boy," said Toby, half filling a wine-glass; "down with it, innocence."--Dickens : Oliver Twist.

When I was a young man of about two and twenty, I lodged in Little Argyll Street (out of Regent Street), and having made great friends with the night bobby, who “had a drain" occasionally-even when on duty-in my rooms, I could slip in or out early in the morning, or at night, in a disguise which was useful and unique. -Sporting Times. Drains (American), a tributary

of a large river. Washington Irving in “ Astarea ” thus uses the phrase: “About noon, the travellers reached the drains and brooks that formed the head waters of the river.”

(Nautical), the cook on board ship. Draper (old), ale-draper, a public

house keeper. The term seems to have a facetious origin, unless it be a corruption of “ale

has ale. draper for a publican. Drat it (popular), a feminine ob

jurgation expressive of con. tempt or anger, erroneously

Draw (sporting and common),

a strife which is without result. From “a drawn game."

The time seems to be nigh when all “international" contests will end in a draw. It is the usual fate of international cricket matches.-St. James's Gazette.

Said of any play, performance, or exhibition when it is a success and attracts people. Mr. -'s new religious enterprise in the southern Suburb commenced very hopefully. It was something new to the people of Wimblewood, and it proved a dratu. The congregations were large and growing, and very soon the hall was crowded.-Evening News.

It has also the general meaning of great attraction. Oh, the shades are most charmingly

blended,

And the fit without flaw,
And the hat quite a craw.

-Biri o' Freedom.
(Cricket), a draw is a hit made
with the surface of the bat in-
clined.

(American), a Western term applied to the cattle which a cowboy employé could pick up, or plainly steal, for his master.

I could have raised quite a nice bunch of cattle in a twelvemonth. Half the draw was worth something those times! -F. Francis : Saddle and Moccasin.

Small glades, glens, or valleys. We had left the fats behind, and were now in a rolling country, intersected by

grassy draws, or miniature valleys, which afforded the finest kind of shelter for cattle. — F. Francis: Saddle and Moccasin.

(Common), to draw, to take in, circumvent.

(Military), to draw, an abbreviation of " to draw the badger,” explained by quotation.

A young officer on first joining was subjected to all sorts of practical joking. ... Practical joking was indeed a recognised institution. ... Its usual manifestations were drawing a man who had returned from mess early, and “making hay” of his furniture and property. ... A party of half-a-dozen wild young subalterns, led probably by a festive captain, would, after a heavy guest night, proceed to the victim's room. ... Perhaps the inmate would be made to stand in the middle of the room in his night-shirt, and sing a comic song. Occasionally, he would be carried downstairs, where he was made to stand on the mantelpiece of the anteroom, and order drinks all round. ... We know of one officer, who, in his nightshirt, was made on a cold winter's night to stand outside the window, on the ledge. -Colburn: United Service Gazette.

(Boxing and popular), to “ draw or tap the claret,” to “ draw the cork," to make the nose bleed.

This is technically called drawing the claret, and is followed up by "practice in the school-room" by a black eye and a bloody nose. -Diprose: Laugh and Learn.

(University and popular), to vex, to infuriate. It is undoubtedly a metaphor from “drawing a badger," i.e., sending in a badger-terrier to worry him out: which in its turn is probably a metaphor from the badgers being occasionally dragged out by the bull-dog or badger-hound. So in Australia

one speaks of " drawing a 'possum.” Draw a bead, to (American), the

Western hunter or trapper in taking aim does so with deliberate precision. He slowly raises the “front sight,” which in appearance is like a bead, to a level with the back sight, and when the two are in a line he immediately fires — hence the expression, and in colloquial use it has come to signify an attack upon one. Draw blanks, to (American), to

fail, miss, or be disappointed.
“Have you any invisible ink?"

She sighed
In a whisper

To the clerk.
“We have it, and of the best"

He replied; you know how to make it work?" “Oh, it isn't for me, but

The nice young man
Who writes to me often-

Thanks!
Ma opens my letters, and,

After this,
I propose that she shall-
Draw blanks."

-C. G. Leland. Draw boy (trade), a superior

article marked at a low price, placed in his window by a shopkeeper to attract customers ; not intended to be sold, but only to act as a decoy to cheat those greedy credulous people who like to make a good bargain. This trick does not always succeed, and may generally be foiled by any obstinate customer who will persist, in spite of refusal, to become possessed of the identical piece of merchan.

Ma Open

dise that has tempted his cupi.

dity.

Drawing (studios), artists call a

water-colour picture a draw

ing. Drawing a wipe (thieves), steal.

ing a pocket-handkerchief from

a person's pocket. Drawing his wool (tailors), vex.

ing, or causing any one to lose

his temper. Drawing plaster (tailors), seek

ing to ascertain a man's inten

tions. Drawing the flats (popular), im

posing on simple-minded people.

The principal artists, however, in the art of drawing the flats, or national per spective, are lawyers, doctors, and trades. men ; each of whom has a principle of cirawing peculiar to his trade or profession, which ought to be thoroughly comprehended by the amateur. — Diprose : Laugh and Learn. Drawing the Queen's picture

(thieves), the manufacture of

base money. Draw it mild (common), calm

yourself, don't exaggerate, the reverse of“coming it too strong." It has also the signification explained by the quotation.

Drawing it mild is used when the artist wishes to circumvent or bamboozle his customers, and consists in “flummery". or “gammon," which may either be put on the individual with a camel's hair pencil or a trowel, according to his humour.Diprose : Laugh and Learn. Draw out, to (common), to elicit

information or secrets from one. French, “tirer les vers du nez?”.

He was a heavy, simple-looking fellow, and the older tramp was in conversation with him, and evidently "drawing him out."-). Greenwood: Tag, Rag, aw Co. Draw teeth, to, to wrench knock

ers and door-handles from off street doors, a favourite amusement of medical students of

bygone days. Draw the planet, to (gypsies), to

tell one's fortune.

Eliza Stanley, a "good-looking young gypsy," tells fortunes; in fact, Mrs. Stanley can "rule your planet." In order, however, to do this successfully she must be entrusted with gold--nothing less being heavy enough to draw the planet. Mrs. Stanley has been drawing the planet with considerable success lately; but she has at last drawn the planet down upon her. self, and the Portsmouth magistrates have given her three months.- The Globe. Draw worsted, to (tailors), to

foment a quarrel. Dress a hut, to (shopmen), to

exchange articles stolen from

respective employers. Dressed to kill (American), to be

over-dressed ; equivalent to "to be dressed to death," "dressed to the nines." When we see a gentleman tiptoeing along Broadway, with a lady wiggle. waggling by his side and both dressed to kill, as the vulgar would say, you may be sure that he takes care of Number One. - Dow's Sermons. Dress in (Winchester College).

The four or five next best players in a football team stand ready dressed so as to take the place of any player who is in any way injured. They are said to “dress in."

Dressing or dressing down

(common), a beating, a defeat. It also means a scolding. If ever I meet him again I will give him such a dressing as he has not had this many a day.-Miss Austen : Sense and Sensibility. Dress-lodger (prostitute), ex

plained by quotation.

They belong utterly and entirely to the devil in human shape who owns the den that the wretched harlot learns to call her "home." You would never dream of the deplorable depth of her destitution if you met her in her gay attire . . . she is absolutely poorer than the meanest beggar that ever whined for a crust. These women are known as dress-lodgers.--). Greenwood: The Seven Curses of London. Drink (American), a river. The

“big Drink" is the common Western term for the Mississippi.

The old boat was a rouser—the biggest on the Drink. - New York Opinions of the Times. Dripping (common), a contemp

tuous term applied to a cook, who is not exactly a cordon

or lace. “Driz-fencer," a person who buys or sells stolen lace. A driz kemesa, a shirt with a

lace frill. With my fawnied fancy and my onions

gay, fake away, With my thimble of ridge and my driz kemesa.

-Ainsworth: Rookwood. Droddum (popular), the buttocks,

the breech. Dromedary (thieves), a bungler. Drop (American), to get the drop

on a man, also to have the drop on one, vide GET THE DROP.

Drop in the eye (old), to “ have a

drop in the eye,” to be partially intoxicated.

O faith, Colonel, you must own you had a drop in your eye, for when I left you you were half seas over.-Swift: Polite Conversation. Drop it (common), cease, leave

off. Drop one's leaf, to (common),

to die. Obviously an allusion to the fall of the leaves in winter.

bleu.

Driver's pint (military), a gallon

of ale. Drivers of the artillery are supposed to have large

powers of absorption. Drive, to (racing), to drive a horse

is to urge him on with whip

and spurs. Drive turkeys to market, to

(popular), to reel from one side to the other like a tipsy man. Probably from the wobbling of the birds in question. Driz (thieves and gypsies), lace.

From the gypsy doriez, thread

Drop the money purse, to (Ameri

can), to incur a loss, make a mistake.

Den The Dog he sail inter Brer Coon, en right dar's whar he drop his moneypuss, kaze Brer Coon wuz cut out fer dat bizness, an' he far'ly wipe up de face er de earf wid 'im.-Brer Remus. Drop the scabs in, to tailors),

to work the button-holes. Drop, to (thieves and popular),

to leave, turn aside; to “ drop

the main Toby," to turn off the
main road. (Popular), to drop
a man, to knock him down;
to drop on, to arrest suddenly,
to abruptly interfere or pre-
vent, to reprove, lay the re-
sponsibility on.
The father died, the son then tried some

poison for to take ;
But this they stopped, and on him drop-
ped, for making this sad mistake.
-Song: Tiddle-a-Wink the

Barber. (Common), to drop into, to thrash. Dropped on (tailors), disap

pointed. Dropping the anchor (racing),

keeping back a horse in a race. On the other hand, on remarking upon the wild way of riding, the visitor will probably be met with the retort, that if the jockeys did not flog their animals un. mercifully, they would be accused of what is here termed in racing slang dropping the anchor.- Sporting Times.

truly, from the Greek Spouós, a road. The origin of the old French cant word, trime, which has the same meaning, is probably identical.

(Old), rout or ball. From the noise of the entertainment a ball - room was called the “drum-room.”

The bonny housemaid begins to repair the disordered drum-room. — Fielding: Tom Jones.

(Pugilistic), the ear.

(Tailors), a small workshop. Drummer (tailors), trousers' maker.

(Old racing), a horse whose forelegs move in an irregular, unusual manner.

(American), a commercial traveller; probably from the simile of beating the drum to attract attention, or from drum, road.

First Drummer_"Had any fun this trip?" Second Drummer" We tried to have some in Louisville, but it did not turn out very well. We painted the nose of one of the boys a brilliant red. and sent him into a revival-meeting." "They must have thought him a fit subject for conversion.” “Well, no ; they all rushed up to him, grabbed him by the hand, said they were glad to see him back from Europe, and asked for a puff in the Courier Jour. nal.-Omaha World.

In this paragraph the editor of the Omaha World satirises a

colleague in a rival newspaper. . (Thieves), a thief who makes

his victims insensible by giving them a narcotic, or causing them to inhale chloroform. Probably a corruption of “dram. mer" from “ dram.”

Drum (popular and thieves), a

house or lodging.

Call it what you like ... drum, crib, owse, or whichever way you likes to put a name to it; it makes no matter to the place I mean.--). Greenwood : Dick Temple.

I went straight back to the old drum in Spitalfields, and after a drink with old friends we made up a tossing party, and I lost every penny of that ten shillings in a very little time.--). Greenwood : Seven Years' Penal Servitude.

Drum means also a street, a road ; in the West of England a "drong."

It may have come directly from the English gypsy drum (old form drom), which is,

put an end to a little attempted early dry. bobbing.-Sketchy Memories of Eton. Dry boots (common), a sly,

humorous fellow. Dry hash (Australian), a man who

will not “shout,” i.e., pay for

drinks. Vide DEADHEAD. Dry lodging (lodging - house keepers), sleeping accommoda

tion without board. Dry nurse, to (nautical), is said

of a junior officer on board ship who advises an ignorant captain, and instructs him in his

duty.

Drumstick (popular), the leg;

“ drumstick cases,” trousers. Drunk (American), a state of

intoxication.

Observing this, the opium master, who was still squatted on the bed, hastened to roll up a couple of cigarettes of common tobacco, and lit them by taking a whiff at each, after which he handed them to the Chinamen, who rose from the couch yawning, and, like men only half awake, staggered towards the fire, and sat regarding it in silence. They were not going yet; they had come for a drunk, and would probably indulge in half-a-dozen more pipes before the evening was over.In Strange Company. Drunken chalks (soldiers), good

conduct badges. Derisively used, and implying that the badges have been gained not by sobriety but by the faculty

of carrying liquor well. Drury Lane vestals (old). Drury

Lane, like Covent Garden, had at one time a reputation for immorality and debauchery rivalling the Haymarket and Regent Street of to-day. The neighbourhood was notorious as the resort and dwelling-place of women of the town, whether kept mistresses or common harlots. They were called Drury Lane vestals, and “the Drury Lane ague" was a loath

some venereal disorder. Dry bob. Vide BOB. Dry-bobbing (Eton), cricketting

“Wet-bobbing," the. term for river sports. Vide BOB. Eventually he won his case; the Georgie was excused, and "Hossy" recited the prologue with much success. It was in April, when a late and severe flood had

Dry shave, to (common), to annoy

one by violently rubbing his

chin with the fingers. Dry up (popular, originally Ame

rican), hold your tongue; varied by “curl up," “put a clapper to your mug," "stop your jaw,” and other equally elegant invitations. (Theatrical), a dry up, a failure, the reverse of a “draw." Whoever is responsible for the dry up at the Opera Comique deserves to be ostracised from theatrical society.-Bird o' Freedom.

To dry up, to stick, i.e., to forget the words of a part and break down.

(Racing), to slacken pace through exhaustion ; literally to be "pumped out.” At the distance he looked like winning in a canter, but dried up immediately afterwards. Sporting Times.

(Printers), to leave off work at dinner time or at night. Sometimes to discharge, or to leave a situation.

Dubsman (old cant), a jailer.

Oh! give me a chisel, a knife, or a file, And the dubsman shall find that I'll do it in style!

Tol-de-rol. -W. H. Ainsworth : Jack Sheppard. Duc (printers), short for the ink

ductor or fountain that regulates the quantity given out to each impression on a machine.

Ducat, ducats (theatrical), coin, cash of any description.

(Thieves), a railway ticket. Probably a corruption of ticket. So I took a ducat for Lutton in Surrey, and went a wedge-hunting. - Horsley: Jottings from Jail.

Duck (popular), a bundle of scraps

of meat sold to the poor. (Winchester), the face.

Dry, walking (military). A dry

walk, or walking dry, is the uninteresting and very distasteful promenade a soldier is compelled to take when he leaves barracks after working hours without a penny in his pocket. D. T. (common), delirium tremens, used very generally by Anglo-Indians.

They get a look, after a touch of D. ?., which nothing else that I know of can give them.-Indian Tale.

D. T. also means Daily Telegraph. Dub, to (thieves), to open ; “dub

the jigger," open the door. T. Harman writes this “dup."

Tower ye yander is the kene, dup the gygger.-Harman : Caveat.

Dub, a key, lock, picklock. Dub-lay, robbing houses by picking the locks. “Dubber,” an expert lock-picker.

To dub a jigger is a variant of “strike a jigger," to break open a door, and dub in that sense is from the meaning to strike. Anglo-Saxon dubban. Hence dub.

(Popular), to “dub up," to pay up. Provincial, dubs, money, So that “ dub up” would be the exact rendering of the French financer, to pay. (Anglo-Indian),

dub, a small coin. Dub at a knapping jigger (old

cant), a turnpike-man. Dubs (Winchester). In the slang

of the boys of that public school this term has the meaning of double.

Duck, or duck's egg (cricket),

no runs; an allusion to the shape of the nought. I carried out my bat for nineteen, and Thomas his for fifteen, scored with much pluck at the pinch of the game; in fact, he won the match, for the remaining man was good for nothing else but a duck.Bird o Freedom.

(Stock Exchange). In the slang of the “ House" a “lame duck" is a defaulter. The expression is old.

I may be "lame," but I shall never be a duck, nor deal in the garbage of the alley.-Walpole Letters.

A “lame duck" is said to “waddle out of the alley," that is, leave the Stock Exchange as bankrupt.

The gaming fools are doves, the knaves are rooks, 'Change-alley bankrupts waddle

out "lame ducks.”—Garrick : Prologue to Foote's Maid of Bath. Duck, doing a (thieves), getting

under the seat of a railway carriage when the ticket-collector comes round, so as to avoid paying the fare. From the ordinary meaning of to duck, to drop the head or person suddenly. With a downward glance of intense scorn at me, the first speaker continued

“Doin' a duck, macin the rattler, ridin' on the cheap, on the odno, under the bloomin' seat, down wi' the dust, all among the daisies, where you like, and what you like, it makes no matter which, what do you think? Gentlemen in my walk of life can't always be worried."Sporting Times. Ducks (common), white linen, or

drill trousers.

This young person had stipulated that Billy should do the thing proper, and be inarried in a pair of white ducks. These garinents he had cheapened at a mart of “reach me down" notoriety, to the satisfaction of the feminine onlooker of his pro. ceedings through the window.–Savage: London.

(Stock Exchange), Aylesbury Dairy Company shares.

(Anglo-Indian), officials of the Bombay service. Dudder, dudsman (old), a pedlar who sold articles of clothing to

country people. Vide DUDS. Duddering rake (old), an ex

tremely debauched man about

town. Dude (American), a swell or

“masher,” an overdressed man. Probably from the very old English cant dude, a garment.

Ain't you one of these dudes as the Colonel brings down sometimes from El Paso and Silver, that wants kettles o' hot water to twelve o'clock?-F. Francis : Saddle and Moccasin.

The word is also used in England.

Sometimes, however, a distinction seems to be established between dude and dandy, the former being considered to apply more to a brainless “masher." I'm a dandy I'll have you all to know,

With the ladies I'm never rude :
This style is all my own, with it I carry

tone,
I'm a dandy, but I'm no dude.

-Song: The following quotation gives amusing evidence of the antiquity of dude. A correspondent of the New York Evening Post shows that dudes are of very ancient date. In the “Eunuchus" of Terence, act iv, scene iv., l. 15, it is written :

“Ita vistus est Dudum quia varia veste exornatus fuit," which, literally translated into English, would read :-"He seemed a dude, be. cause he was decked out in parti-coloured clothes," or still more literally, “in a vest of many colours." Dude hamfatters (American), a

sarcastic allusion to the swell and “masher” pork-raisers. A large number are located not a hundred miles from Chicago.

It seems that the dude hamfatters, after trying various games to skip unseen, con. ceived the idea of making up as a couple of well-dressed women.-New York Na. tional Police Gazette. Dudeman or dudman, a scare.

crow (Halliwell). Dudette, dudinette (American), a

very young girl, a mere chit,

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who affects the airs and style of

a belle. Dudikabin (gypsy), “ to lel dūdikabin," lit., to take lightment. This word was for a long time kept a great secret by the gypsies, and one of them was reprimanded by his friends for telling the writer. It means the making a clean sweep of everything valuable in the house, under pretence of propitiating the planets, or of finding and attracting hidden treasure. This latter is more specially the hukani boro, or “great humbug.” It appears to be connected with the English slang - equivalent “lightment," from to lighten, to relieve of one's property, to rob.

Dudine (American), a lady “dude.”

Long - handled eye-glasses, and the dudines who buy and use them.-Phila. delphia Times. Duds (thieves), clothes. Scottish

dud, a rag. As I was walking down Cheapside a man came up to me and said, “ Look here, mate, the sooner you sling them duds away the longer you will keep out of quod. I have been following behind two private clothes detectives, and they spotted you by your togs, so take my tip to get rid of them.-Evening News.

Also duddies.
Then he took out a little knife,

Let a' his duddies fa',
And he was the brawest gentleman

That stood among them a'.
-Old Bailai: We'll gang nae Mair

a Roving. (Attributed to King

James V. of Scotland.) T. Harman uses the word with the meaning of linen clothes.

We wyll fylche some d'uddes off the ruffemans, or myll the ken for a lagge of dudes.-Caveat.

I.e., “We will steal some linen off the hedges, or rob a parcel of the same from the house."

(Old), to "sweat duds," to pawn clothes. A “dudman” is provincial for a scarecrow;

literally a ragged fellow. Duff (thieves), spurious. Men at

the duff, passers of false jewellery. To duf, to sell spurious goods, often under the pretence of their having been smuggled, stolen, or found. In London attempts at duffing are often made by rascals who offer for sale a worthless meerschaum pipe or ring, pretending they

have just found it. Vide DUFFER. Duffer (common). This word has

two opposite meanings. A rank swindler, a clever cheat—"a word in frequent use in 1701 to express cheats of all kinds." In Yiddish every word which means clever or wise also means roguery; and in Yiddish doffer is a shrewd, clever, very crafty man (adjective doff, from tov or toff, good); Dutch thieves' slang doffer, a tramp, a seller of forged pictures. ... Nor did it mark him out as the prey of ring-droppers, pea and thimbleriggers, duffers, louters, or any of those bloodless sharpers, who are perhaps a little better known to the police.- Dickers : Martin Chuszlewit.

A worthless person, a stupid man, an awkward, unskilful fel. low, a coward. What an awful duffer he is. I do not believe he hit a thing to-day; besides, he is so dangerous.-Saturday Review.

unpretending, was a structure of no mean importance. When it became known that Jack Mayne intended to plaster the “ front room" it was pretty thoroughly agreed that reckless extravagance characterised Mayne's house building. - Sporting Times,

In this latter sense the word is connected with daffe, AngloSaxon, a fool; daffam, a silly person (Wright); daff, a coward; daft, of weak intellect. AngloSaxon deaf,“ surdus, absurdus, stolidus,” from dufan. Deaf is in most of its Indo-European forms synonymous with stupid or stolid. Gothic daufs, dull or foolish.

(Popular), spurious money. I very quietly slipped four duffers among six good bobs, and accommodated her with the change she wanted. It came off all right, so I've four bob left for drinks; see ! -Bird o' Freedom.

(Nautical), a woman who assists smugglers. Duffer out, to (Australian), mining

slang. A reef is said to duffer out when the gold is nearly or quite exhausted. He then reported to the shareholders that the lode had duffered out, and that it was useless to continue working.-Ad. vance Australia. Dug-out (American), a canoe

hollowed out of the trunk of a tree. The term seems common throughout the New World, as the Rev. W. Cartwright in his “Autobiography ” says, “If by chance we got a dug-out to cross in ourselves and swim our horses by, it was quite a treat.”

Also a rough kind of structure built over an excavation.

The new house was at best but a modest little structure, but Mayne viewed the placing of each shingle and the driving of each nail with profound satisfaction. In the sparsely settled neighbourhood, where dug-outs and “shacks” predominated, a "frame" house, even though small and

Duke Humphrey (common), “ to

dine with Duke Humphrey,” to go without dinner. Dr. Brewer, in his “ Dictionary of Phrase and Fable,” says : -“Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, son of Henry IV., was renowned for his hospitality. At his death it was reported that a monument would be erected to him in St. Paul's, but his body was interred at St. Albans. When the promenaders left for dinner, the poor stay-behinds who had no dinner used to say to the gay sparks who asked if they were going, that they would stay a little longer and look for the monument of the 'good duke.'” “ Dining with the cross-legged knights" (the stone effigies of the Round Church) had the same signification. Hotten has the following explanation:-“Some visitors were inspecting the abbey where the remains of Humphrey Duke of Gloucester lie, and one of them was unfortunately shut in, and remained there solus while his companions were feasting at a neighbouring hostelry. He was afterwards said to have dined with Duke Humphrey, and the saying eventually passed into a proverb.” Vide Halliwell, who gives a better origin, and one supported by all contemporary writers.

Duke of limbs (common), a

tall, spindle-shanked man; the phrase also implies awkward.

ness and uncouthness. Duke of York (rhyming slang),

walk or talk. Dukes or dooks (popular and

thieves), the hands ; from the gypsy dūk, dook, which refers to palmistry; “it is in his dook," meaning “it is in his fate," became “it is in his hand.”

Then he began to push me about, so I said I would not go at a if he put his dukes (hands) on me. Then he rammed my nut (head) against the wall and shook the very life out of me.-Horsley: Jot. tings from Jail.

To grease one's duke, to bribe, to pay. So the next day I went to him, and asked him if he was not going to grease my duke ---Horsley : Jottings from Jail.

To put up one's dukes, to fight, to box. No doubt Britain's foes will be thrown into

throes Of utter dismay and despair, too; Finding those near the throne are to prize

fighting prone; And are ready to fight “on the square,"

too. Now that royalties spar, all the swells, near

and far, Will do ditto-without any warning; And without any fiukes, will all put up

their dukes, And try punching the bag every morning.

-Fun. Dukey. Vide DOOKIE. Dükk, dook (gypsy), breath.

Mandy nashered my dikk a prasterin päller the jūva.-An Old Gypsy.

1.e., "I lost my breath running after the

I find that the dook is like myself, very much given to lying.–George Borrow: Lavengro.

Also pain, vexation, annoyance. (According to the primitive Shamanic faith, all pain was

caused by evil spirits.) Dūkker, dôk, dook, dooker

(gypsy), to tell fortunes, to pain, grieve, chide; dükkerben, grief, trouble, a fault ; dūkkeripen or dūkkerpen, fortune - telling, augury ; dūkkero, sorrowful. Hindu, dokh, fault. When I pens adovo I pens a tácho duk. kerin.-George Borrow : Lavengro. Mūkk mengy dukker your kók'ro, rya ?

So? Mándy cant pen lis-mándy can. Mā tūte sáv 'at dukkerin, pála

Adóvo sos sār o tem began. “Shall I tell your fortune too, sir ?

What? I can't! Oh, yes, I can. Don't you laugh at fortune-telling, 'Twas with that the world began."

-Professor E, H, Paimer

Dull in the eye (popular), intoxi

cated. Dull swift (old), said of one long

gone on errands or messages.

Dumb-cow (Anglo-Indian), also

dumb-cowed (participle), to brow. beat, to cow, set down.

“ This is a capital specimen of Anglo-Indian dialect. Dam khāna, “to eat one's breath,' is a Hindu idiom for 'to be silent.' Mr. Hobson-Jobson converts this into a transitive verb, to damkhās, and both spelling and mean. ing being affected by English suggestions of sound, this comes in Anglo-Indian use to imply cowing and silencing” (AngloIndian Glossary.

girl.”'

A spirit; that which inspires divination or palmistry ; the demon of Socrates.

Dumfogged—Durham.

321

Dumpoke (Anglo-Indian), a duck,

boned, baked, and highly seasoned. From the Persian dampukht, “air-cooked,” or baked. In English gypsy, pukht would be pekkerd, from the same root.

These eat highly of all flesh dumpoked, which is baked with spice in butter.Fryer.

Dumfogged (literary), confused. Dummock (low), the fundament;

otherwise known as “blind

cheek.” Dummy (popular), anything

fictitious or sham, an individual of vacant mind, and one bereft of speech. (Tailors), a piece of cloth rolled tight and saturated with oil; used for rubbing clothes of a very hard nature in places required to be cut, also the shears, to make cutting more easy. (Thieves), a pocketbook. Originally a book full of

sham notes. He is caught-he must “stand and de.

liver :" Then out with the dummy, and off with

the bit, Oh, the game of High Toby for ever!

- Ainsworth : Rookwood. A “dummy-hunter,” a pickpocket, whose speciality is to steal pocket-books. No dummy-hunter had forks so fly, No knuckler so deftly could fake a cly.

-Ainsworth: Rookwood. Dummy daddle dodge (thieves),

picking pockets in an omnibus under cover of a sham hand. Asked by the friendly warder what he thought of the dummy daddle dodge, Mr. Mobbs said he rather thought that game was played out. A woman, he pro. ceeded to explain, can work with a dummy daddle in an omnibus or a railway carriage much better than a man, because, without appearing conspicuous, she can wear any kind of loose shawl or cloak as concealment for her real hand.-). Greenwood : Daily Telegraph. Dump fencer (street), a man who

hawks buttons. Dump is an old word for a leaden medal.

Dumps (popular), money. Vide

DUMP FENCER.
May I venture to say when a gentleman

jumps In the river at midnight for want of the

dumps, He rarely puts on his knee-breeches and pumps.

– Ingoldsby Legends. Dung (workmen), one who is com

pelled to accept lower wages after being out on strike. The word is the preterite of the old English verb to “ding,” to beat down, one who is dung or beaten, as in the old proverb, still termed Scottish, “It's a sair dung bairn that maunna greet.”

(Tailors), “dunging it" is said of a traitor to the trade. Dungaree (Anglo-Indian), common, coarse, low, vulgar. The name of a disreputable suburb of Bombay, and also of a coarse blue cloth used for sailors'

clothing. Dunnage (popular), clothes or

baggage. Dunnakin (American thieves), a

chamber-pot. In England, the

water-closet. Durham man (old slang), a knock

kneed man was so called, and

322

Durrynacker-Dusty.

was said to grind mustard be

tween his knees. Durrynacker (prison), female

hawker. From the gypsy dori

or doriez, threads or lace. Dust (common), money. Possibly

for gold dust. “Put it down to the bill" is the fountain

of ill, 'Tis this has the shopkeepers un

done.
Bazaars never trust, so down with your

dust,
And help us to diddle all London.

-Grimaldi's Bazaar. The term is old, it occurs in the “Life of Ken," 1690. “Down with the dust,” pay the money.

If they did intend to trade with Christ they must “ down with the dust"instantly, for to his knowledge the Papists did offer a vast sum of money for England's Christ, --Eachard's Observations, 1671.

He who giveth to the poor lendeth to the Lord. If you like the security "down with the dust."- Sermon attributed to the Rev. Rowland Hill. Duster (tailors), a sweetheart. Dust Hole (common), the Queen's

Theatre, Tottenham Court Road, so called from the fact that half a century ago, when under the management of Mr. Glossop, the débris of the theatre was swept daily under the pit, and suffered to accumulate, to the great inconvenience of the audience, until the dust hole was crowded to repletion. The first French plays acted in London were given at this theatre, which, after many vicissitudes of fortune, became fashionable as the Prince of Wales', and is

now the property of the Salva

tion Army. Dust out of, to (American), to

leave or depart. Mother Johonie, brush the dust off your boots. Johnnie-Is that the kind of dust papa was talking to governess about? Mother-What did he say? Johnnie-He said: “Dost thou love me, Agnes?" Mother-No, it was not, Johnnie ; but Agnes will dust out of here to-morrow morning.---Boston Globe.

Dust, with the sense of go away, is also used in England. Dust, to (West American), to

dismount by allowing oneself to roll off to the soft ground.

Frequently, instead of quitting them when they were turned loose, the boys would sit astride of the steers they had been holding, and “stay with them" as they went bucking down the corral to. wards their fellows, until the proximity of these latter warned the riders to roll off and dust.-F. Francis: Saddle and Moccasin.

Dustoor, dustoory (Anglo

Indian), a commission paid, generally as a kind of bribe. Per. sian and Hindu, dastur, custom.

“That commission or percentage on money passing in any cash transaction which sticks to the fingers of the agent of payment” (Anglo

Indian Glossary). Dusty (popular), “not so dusty,"

not so bad.

Three red clocks, two pusses, and a white slang-I ain't done so dusty!-Punch. Dusty, gritty, or stony broke

(popular), without a sou. “I've been as flash as they make 'em in my time, and you'll 'ardly believe it"this in á hoarse whisper to me-"I've

Dutch-Earthquake.

323

been that broke-stony, gritty, dusty broke -you understand, as I'd 'ave nicked the broads out of a pal's kick, if they was there, and sold 'em for the price of 'alf a pint."-Sporting Times. Dutch (military), to “do a Dutch,”

to run away, to desert. Pro. bably an allusion to “ Dutch courage."

(Popular), a Dutch, a wife. Now he'd not a brown, nor a friend in

town, In fact he was quite undone ; He made a vow he'd never row With his old Dutch again. So part by hook, and part by crook, He tramped it back to London. -Mitchell: Jimmy Johnson's

Holiday. Dutch auction (cheap Jacks), a

method of selling goods with

EAR (American), to get up on

one's ear, to rouse oneself to a

great effort. They called me bully boy, altho' I've seen

nigh threescore years, And said that I was lightning when I got up on my car.

-Words and their Uses. Earl of Cork (Irish), the ace of

diamonds. According to Carleton, “It is the worst ace and the poorest card in the pack, and is called the Earl of Cork because he is the poorest noble

man in Ireland.” Early riser (popular), the vulgar

name for an efficient aperient pill. The application of the term is obvious.

Earth bath (old), a grave ; to

take an earth bath, to be dead and buried. Also to take a

“ground sweat.” Earthquake (American), bottled

earthquake, spirits, intoxicating liquor of any kind. So called from the disorderly motions attendant on intoxication, or an abbreviation of " earthquake protector."

Bottled earthquakes are just as bad as the other kind. Scratch a bottled earthquake and you'll find a cocktail.–Chicago Tribune.

324

Earthquakc—Eighter.

Earthquake protector (Ameri.

can), explained by quotation.

It was a delicious beverage, not unconnected with old Jamaica, and sent a delicious glow through every vein. ...

“But how, pray, does this protect me from an earthquake ?"

“Well, sir," replied the barkeeper, " if you'll only drink enough of it, you won't care a continental whether the earthquake comes or not."-New York Star. Earwig (thieves), a clergyman. Earwigging (common), a rebuke

in private. Ease, to (popular and thieves), to

rob. French slang, soulager. Eason, to listen (New York Slang

Dictionary). Easen is an English provincialism for eaves ; hence

eason, from eavesdropping East and south (rhyming slang).

the mouth. Eastery (cheap Jacks), explained

by quotation.

Sometimes, when in a country where there were large villages or small towns, we used to work what was called eastery or private business.-Hindley: Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack. Easy (thieves), “make the cull

easy,” kill the fellow. Eat a fig (rhyming slang), to

“crack a crib,” i.e., to commit

a burglary. Eat one's terms, to (legal), to pre

pare for the bar; to attend the requisite number of dinners in hall each term.

Captin, do you ate us or do we ale ourselves ? Eat yourselves, to be sure. American Story. Eats his head off (common), is said

of a horse that remains for a long time in the stable. Sometimes of servants or others who

have little to do. Eaves (American thieves), a hen

roost. Eavesdropper (American thieves),

a chicken thief, or a low sneak

or thief generally. Ebenezer (Winchester College),

a ball at racquets that hits the

line and rises high into the air. Ebony (popular), a bit of ebony,

a negro. Ebony optics (pugilistic), black

eyes; ebony optics albonized,

black eyes painted white. Edge (tailors), "stitched off the

edge” refers to a glass or pint not filled to the top; "side edge,” whiskers. A “ short top

edge” is a turn-up nose. Edgenaro (back slang), orange. Eggshaw (Anglo-Indian), brandy;

probably from the name of a

brand. Egyptian hall (rhyming slang), a

ball. Eighter (prison), an eight-ounce

Eat, to (American), a Western

expression, meaning not to con. sume but to provide food.

loaf. “Do you eat all your chuck?". “No, I have two eighters in my cell

now,"

“I shall be orderly to-morrow. Sling me a toke."--Evening News,

Ekom (back slang), a "moke" or

donkey. Elbow crooker (thieves), a hard

drinker ; from the phrase to “crook one's elbow," to drink. In French, “lever le coude," said of a hard drinker. Elbower (thieves), a fugitive; one that “elbows," i.e., turns the

corner, or gets out of sight. Elbow grease (popular), hard

work. Elbow-scraper (nautical), fiddle

player. Elbow shaker (old), gambler with

dice. From the expression “to

shake one's elbow." Elbow, to (thieves), to turn a

corner, to get out of sight. Electrified (American), excited

with liquor. Elephant (thieves), a victim possessed of much money.

(Common), the elephant, originally an Americanism. We might compile a volume of the amusing explanations and illustrations of this expression which have appeared in American news. papers. To have seen the elephant is to have had a full experience of life or of a certain subject or object. There is a book by “Doesticks” (Mortimer Thompson), called “Seeing the Elephant,"devoted to describing "life" in New York, of which a reviewer remarked that the elephant, according to Mr. Thompson, appeared to be bad

brandy. When a man had made an unfortunate speculatior. he would say that he had not only seen the elephant but felt him kick. The phrase seems to have originated in an old ballad of a farmer who, while driving his mare along the highway, met with a showman's elephant, which knocked him over, and spilt his milk and destroyed his eggs. The farmer consoled himself for his loss by reflecting that he had

at least “ seen the elephant.” And he said, "Now in future no one can

declare That I've not seen the elephant-neither

the mare."

In 1849-1850, to have been to California and returned was to have seen the elephant. Those who sold the bonds had vanished,

those who hadn't held the town, Little knew they of its glory over seas

or great renown, They had nothing of the fruitage-though

alas! they held the plant, Nothing saw they of the picture save in

deed the elephant. He who had been in the background now

came rushing to the fore, Terribly he trampled on them—very awful was his roar.

- The Rise and Fall of Gloryville. Montaigne surangely enough seems to suggest that “to see the elephant" was in his time connected with experience of life. He cites the following from "Arrien. Hist. Ind.,” c. 17. “Aux Indes Orientales la chasteté y estant en singulière recommandation, l'usage pourtant souffroit qu'une femme mariée se peust abandonner à qui luy presentoit un éléphant, et cela avec 326

Elephant-Enthuse.

quelque gloire d'avoir esté estimée à si hault prix."

This then was the Indian way of “ seeing the elephant,” and of paying, as at the present day, an enormous price for the sight.

(Common), a girl is said to “have seen the elephant” when she has lost her chastity.

French, "avoir vu le loup." Elephant's trunk (rhyming slang),

drunk. Elevation, explained by quota

tion. “They as dinnot tak' spirits down thor, tak’ their pennord o' elevation thenwomen-folk especial."

“ What's elevation?"... “Opium, bor' alive, opium."—C. Kingsley: Alton Locke.

"Elevated" is English for intoxicated in a slight degree. Emperor (common), “drunk as

an emperor.” The quintessence of intoxication. Ten times “as drunk as a lord.” The French say “saoul comme trente mille hommes." (Thieves), hence a drunken man.

A pinch for an emperor's slang. He was in his altitudes, and we pinched his thimble, slang and onions.-On the Trail. Empty bottle (Univ. Cantab.), a

pensioner. Bristed, in his “Five Years in an English University," says, “ They are popularly denominated empty bottles, the first word of the appellation being an adjective, though were it taken as a verb there would be no untruth in it."

End (American), “to be all on

end," to be very angry or irritated. From rising up, or jumping up in a rage. Also applied to a state of excitement, especially of anticipation. “They were all on end

to see the President go by." Endacott, to (journalistic), to act

like a constable of that name who arrested a woman whom he thought to be a prostitute. Constable Endacott. ... Though he might base a claim to a pension on literary grounds, as having enriched the English language with a new word (to Endacott, V.A.), it is not probable that an economical Government would value this addition to the dictionary very highly. -- Evening Wews.

The expression lived "ce que vivent les roses, l'espace d'un matin," probably on account of certain facts proved in the course of a subsequent investigation, and which showed that the constable's name ought not to go down to posterity as that of an

oppressor of womankind. Ends, at loose (familiar). When

a business is neglected, or its finances are in a precarious con

dition, it is said to be at loose ends. Ensign bearer (military), a man

with a red and blotchy face

arising from tippling. Enthuse (American), to excite en

thusiasm, to be enthusiastic. A favourite word with "gushing" clergymen. “An object large enough to enthuse an angel's soul.” Enthused, excited with liquor.

Entire—Excruciators.

327

Entire figure, the (American), to

the fullest extent. A simile naturally derived from expressing sums of money by numerals or “figures." Also the “big figure," the "whole figure."

E. P. (clerical), a very common

abbreviation, means the “Eastward Position," adopted in por

tions of the Communion Service. Epsom races (rhyming slang), a

pair of braces. Equal to the genuine Limburger

(American), a standard simile for anything which is asserted to attain the maximum of bad smells. The German Limburger cheese has, to those who are not accustomed to it, an intensely

disagreeable odour. Equipped (thieves), rich, well

dressed. Eriffs, young thieves (New York

Slang Dictionary). “It's the gait all them eriff's dances,” observed the one-eyed man. “I remember once I was in cahoots with a cove like that."—On the Trail. Esclop (back slang), police; pro

nounced " slops." Euchred (common), played out;

from a game at cgrds. Europe morning (Anglo-Indian).

When a man gets up late, that is, at nine or ten o'clock, he is said to have a Europe morning.

The expression explains itself. Evaporate, to (common), to run

away, to vanish.

Everlasting staircase, the

(thieves). The treadwheel, originally invented by Mr. Cubitt in 1817, and first used in Brixton Prison, fell somewhat into desuetude, but has been revived in some prisons under the Government régime, as an instrument both of utility for grinding corn, raising water, &c., and of real hard labour. The labour varied most unequally, e.g., from 7500 feet ascent in the day in Lewes prison to 14,200 feet in Boston. This inequality and consequent injustice has now been removed. Everton coffee (rhyming slang),

coffee. Everything is lovely, and the

goose hangs high (American), a phrase which became known during the war, and which formed the burden of a popular song. It signified that all is going well. The goose is a synonym for terror or alarm. Thus, on the stage, “to be goosed” is to be hissed, and when the goosc hangs high it is equivalent to saying that there is no defeat to fear. The phrase

originated in Philadelphia. Ewe (old), a white ewe, a hand

some woman; an old ewe, an

old woman. Exam. (schools), short for exami.

nation. Excruciators (London), the new

fashioned boot or shoe painfully pointed.

Joyfully the lads bore T'Owd Mon off to Blurton's and got him a real shiny pair of pointed excruciators (small thirteens, T'Owd 'Un usually takes calf fourteens). Sporting Times. Execution day common), wash

ing day amongst the lower classes.

Expecting (society), a common

expression for a woman being in the family way; it is an abbreviation for expecting her

confinement. Explaterate (American), to en

large upon, to hold forth, to
explain and illustrate fully.

On this I will explaterate,
And all my views profusely state.

-Joel Boodler's Campaign. From the obsolete English to explate, to unfold. Extrumps (Winchester College),

a corruption of extempore. To “go up to books extrumps" is to go up without having pre

pared one's lesson. “Extrumpere," a jocose perversion of extempore, has been used by

old English authors. Eye limpet, another name for an

artificial eye. Eye-openers (American), one of

the many concoctions drunk at American bars.

In the vestibule of each refreshment. room there is an American bar, where visitors may indulge in juleps, cocktails, cobblers, rattlesnakes, gum ticklers, eye-openers, flashes o' lightning, brandy smashes, stone fences, and a variety of similar beverages.-E. MacDermott: The Popular Guide to the International Exhibition of 1862.

Also a general term for any kind of intoxicating drink.

(Society), is said of anything out of the way.

of course, there were the usual cye. openers in the way of dress. - Modern Society. Eye water (popular), gin.

FACE (popular), credit at a pub

lic-house. From one's physiognomy being known there; or from face, effrontery, confidence. “ To run one's face,” to obtain credit by effrontery. “He has no face but his own” (Grose), he has no coin (faces in French

slang) in his pocket. Face entry (theatrical), the entrée

or freedom of access to a

theatre, from the face being

known. Face-making (popular), begetting

children. Facer (pugilistic), a blow on the

face. While showers of facers told so deadly

well

That the cracked jaw-bones cracked as they fell.

-T. Moore.

Blogg, starting upright, tipped the fel. low a facer.-Ingoldsby Legends.

(Society), a metaphorical knock down; severe blow.

The news of his having hit his leg yesterday has proved a facer. - Sporting Times.

(Popular), a tumbler of whisky punch.

(Irish), a dram, a full glass. An old word for a bumper of wine.

(Thieves), a man who places himself directly in the way of persons in pursuit of his accomplices. Formerly facer meant an impudent fellow.

Face the music, to (popular), a

phrase no doubt of theatrical origin, and alluding to the trepidation sometimes felt upon facing the audience. The orchestra is generally placed in front of the audience, and consequently nearest the stage. To face the music is therefore to meet an emergency. Some. times it means “to show one's hand,” i.e., to make plain one's purpose.

(American), to boldly meet a severe trial; to nerve oneself up to go through a disagreeable emergency. Originally army slang, applied to men when drummed out to the tune of the “Rogue's March.”

the individual working imme

diately behind one's face-mate. Facings (tailors), "silk facings”

are beer - droppings on the

breast of a coat. Facings, put one through the

(popular), in military parlance
the regular drill — “ Face!”
“Right about face!” &c. In
popular slang, to give one a
scolding or call him to ac-
count.
We were scarcely wed a week

When she put me through my facings,
And wolloped me-and worse ;

She said I did not want a wife,
I ought to have had a nurse.

-F. Egerton: If my wife would

let me. Facing the knocker (tailors),

begging Fad cattle (old slang), women of

easy virtue. Fadge (popular), a corruption of

farthing. Fadger (glaziers), a glazier's

frame. Fae - gang, a gang of gypsies.

Faa was a common name for gypsies—not assumed, but often accepted by them. “Johnnie Faa, the Gipsy Laddie," is the title of an ancient popular ballad, recounting how a handsome vagrant of that name ran off with the Countess of Cassilis, who was enamoured of him for his manly, hearty, and winning manners. Robert Faa is the present king of the Scottish gypsies at Yetholm,

Facie (tailors), the man working

in front of one. “Pacie on the bias," the man working in front of one to the right or left. “Facie on the two thick,"

Fag, to (thieves), to beat. Ex.

pressive of the trouble in giving

a beating. Fagger (thieves), a small boy put

into a window to rob the house or to open it for others to rob;

called also "little snakesman." Fagot (popular), a bundle of bits

of the “stickings" (hence probably its name), sold for food to the London poor (Hotten). But more probably from “fag-end." Also a term of contempt applied to a woman or child with reference originally to the slovenly garments, the person being compared to a bundle of sticks loosely put together. The French fajoté signifies dressed in ill-fitting, badly matched

garments. Fagot briefs, bundles of worth

less papers tied up with red

French cant fagot, a convict; from the circumstance that convicts were all bound to one common chain when on their

way to the hulks. Faints, in vogue amongst school

boys to express a wish temporarily to withdraw from participation in the particular sport or game being played. It is generally understood that this can only take place while in bounds or out of danger. It is somewhat similar to the now almost obsolete term “wicket”

in cricket. Fair and square (common), hon

est, honesty. She beat him fair and square in a two miles and a quarter gallop.-Bird o' Freedom,

Also fair, square, and above ground,

I will have none of this hole and corner business. ...I wish all the criticisms in my paper to be fair, square, and above ground.-Anthony Trollope. Fairlick (Harvard University), a

football term used when the ball is fairly caught or kicked beyond bounds. “ Fairlick!” he cried, and raised his

dreadful foot, Armed at all points with the ancestral boot.

- Harvardiana, Fair rations (sport), fair play,

fairness.

Their protest was ludicrous in its insigo nificance, fair rations out of the question, -Toby. Fair trade (thieves), smuggling. Faithful, one of the (common), a

tailor giving long credit. As

barristers in the back rows of the courts to simulate briefs

(Hotten). Fagot vote (politicians), votes

given by electors expressly qualified for party purposes (Dr. Brewer).

Evidently from the old term fagots, “dummy" soldiers or sailors who were hired to appear at muster and fill up the companies or crews.

Fagot, to, an expression proper

to robbers; that is, to bind hand and foot (Bayer's Dic. tionary, 1748). It is curious to note the coincidence with the

“Fake away, there's no down," go on, there is no one looking. To “fake a screeve,” to draw up a false document, a begging letter ; to "fake one's slangs,” to file through one's irons; to “ fake a cly," to pick a pocket.

(American thieves), in addition to the usual meaning, cutting out the wards of a key.

" Paking the sweetener,” kissing.

(Sporting), to hocus or poison. To insert ginger under a horse's

tail.

this trade is in London, at all events, almost entirely in the hands of the Jews, they are sarcastically said to have joined the ranks of the faithful; or this when they allow long credit to a customer, a practice which, it is to be feared, also often makes the old saying concerning them literally true—“his faith has made him unwhole,” i.e., bank

rupt. Fake, a very ancient cant word,

possibly from facere, used in the honest sense of to do, to make, originally, but afterwards in the dishonest one. The word was popularised by a song introduced in Mr. Ainsworth's novel “Rookwood.” It is used with various significations, and in this respect exactly corresponds to the verb faire of the French slang.

(Thieves), to rob. All who in Blois entertain honest views, Have long been in bed, and enjoying a

snooze, Nought is waking save mischief and

faking, And a few who are sitting up brewing or

baking. Ingoldsby Legends.

To do, to make, to cheat, swindle, beg, malinger or counterfeit illness or sores, to escape labour and gain the diet of the infirmary. Having set his mind upon shirking all work, he announces his intention to fake the doctor and “work" the parson.Evening News

To continue, go on.
In box of the stone peg I was born,
Of a hempen widow the kid forlorn ;

Fake away!

- Ainsworth: Rookwood.

(American and English), false report, deception, pretence, blind. ... And that naming the house in the ridiculous way it was named was merely a fake to draw attention to it.-). Green. wood: Tag, Rag, & Co.

The report sent out ... does not bear investigation. It is a fake, and nothing else.- Daily Inter Ocean.

“I heard your brother had gone to New York."

“Oh, that was a fake. He was badly punished at football, and is lying low to fetch up.”—The Youth's Companion.

Also invention, contrivance. That was one of the best fakes of the time, and there was lots of money in it too.-Bird o' Freedom.

(Card-sharpers), a dodge. . Now to learn some new fakes with the broads.-Sporting Times.

(Stage), fake is another term for “make up" of a character;

to fake, to paint one's face. Or ask what their age is, they'll scorn

fully say"I do not fake (and smiling), I'm twenty to-day."

-Bird o’ Freedom.

In conjuring, any mechanical contrivance for the performance of a trick. So also in a show, if, for example, an apparently ordi. nary dinner plate had a small nick in it to help its being caught on the point of a knife after being tossed into the air, the plate would be faked. Again, bustling through a show of any kind under difficulties artfully concealed from the spectators is faking it.

“ Paking the duck," adulterating, dodgery. Fakeman Charley, the mark of

the owner of a stolen object. Fakement, a word of general ap

plication among the lower or-
ders for the doing of anything ;
trade, profession, contrivance,
invention.
The fakement conn'd by knowing rooks
Must be well known to you.

– The Leary Man. (Thieves and vagrants), a false begging petition. Lawyer Bob draws fakements up; he's tipped a peg for each.--Ducange Anglicus: The Vulgar Tongue.

Any dishonest practice, swindling dodge, forgery.

I cultivated his acquaintance . . . and put him up to the neatest little fakement in the world ; just showed him to raise two hundred pounds . . . just by signing his father's name.-H. Kingsley: Geoffrey Hamlyn.

(Theatrical), paint for the face.

... opportunity allowed her To apply the fakement when he didn't twig

- Sporting Times.

Fakements (theatrical), small

properties or make-up, such as a hare's foot, an old white stocking-top, piece of burnt cork, &c., all you can get in a “make-up” box, a cigar-box. Certain pantomimists are accustomed to call the properties used in the harlequinade fakements. A good story of Macready, whose loathing for the very name of slang was notorious, is told in connection with this subject. When starring in Hamlet at Newcastle-onTyne, the manager was shorthanded, and an unfortunate clown was pressed into the service for Francisco, who speaks the first line of the play. The poor pantomimist was waiting in great anxiety for the halberd or partizan he was to carry while mounting guard, and the property-man who ought to have provided it was conspicuous by his absence. The great Mac., grim and growling, and more atrabilarious than usual, opened fire with

“Er-er-are we to stay here all day? Begin, sir, begin.”

“Can't begin, guv'nor," quoth the clown.

“Er-why not, sir ? er-why

not ?"

"'Cos I ain't got my fakements."

“Your what, sir? Good heavens! your what ?”

“My fakements. Here, I say, gully” (catching sight of the property-man, who had just put in an appearance), “hand over the fakements."

The great Mac., thoroughly nonplussed, growled to the property-man

“By all means, Mr. Cully, hand over the gentleman's fakemends, and let us begin the

rehearsal." Faker (popular and thieves). This

word is applied to a great variety of men-pedlars, workmen, thieves. From “ to fake.” In Dutch slang fokker is a thief; ficker in German cant.

(Circus), a faker, a circus rider or performer.

(Popular), a prostitute's lover, bully. Fakes and slumboes (theatrical),

one of the numerous synonyms used by pantomimists to de

scribe properties. Fall of the leaf (old cant), hang

ing. Parker says, “The new mode of hanging. The culprit is brought upon a stage, and placed upon a leaf. When the rope is fixed about his neck the leaf falls, and the body immediately becomes pendant." Why, I suppose you know that he was knocked down for the crap the last ses. sions. He went off at the fall of the leaf at Tuck'em Fair.-G. Parker: Variegated Characters. Fall, to (thieves), to be appre

hended.

A little time after this I fell again at St. Mary Cray for being found at the back of a house.-Horsley : Jottings from Jail. False hereafters (American),

bustles.

The scheme worked to perfection. In the large bustles which they wore, the

dudes carried off their wardrobe in large false hereafters, and passed the lady of the house on their way out.-New York National Police Gazette. Fam, fem (thieves), the hand.

If they do get their fams on me I'll be in for a stretch of air and exercise.-On the Trail.

The gypsies claim this as a Romany word and derive it from fem, five, or the five fingers, al

though five in Romany is pange. Fambles, fumbles (thieves), the

hands. Vide Fam. Fam grasp (old cant), shaking

hands. Family disturbance (cowboys),

whisky. Family man (thieves), one of the

fraternity of thieves. Also a receiver of stolen goods or

“fence." Fam lay (thieves), robbing a

store by pretending to examine goods. But more specially to rob a jeweller by means of a sticky substance attached to the palm or fingers, thus abstracting

the articles shown. Fam squeeze (thieves), strangling. Fam, to (thieves), to handle; from

the gypsy fan or vangri. Fan (thieves), a waistcoat. ran, to thieves), to stea Fan, to (thieves), to steal from the

person. (Prov. Cumberland), to foel, to find. On the way down the street Pete was very friendly and entertaining, and fanned the countryman's pocket where he had seen him put the roll, but it had been shifted.--New York World.

Fanning (thieves), a beating, also stealing. Cross-fanning, stealing from the person with the arms crossed, the right hand operating under the left arm

pit. Fanny Adams (naval), tinned

mutton. Fanny Blair (rhyming slang), the

hair.

Fancy man (prostitutes), the lover

of a prostitute.
But my nuttiest blowen, one fine day,

Fake away!
To the beak did her fancy man betray.

-Ainsworth: Rookwood. Fancy pieces (common), prosti

tutes. Fancy, the, the favourite pastimes

of sporting men.

That boxing and ratting, and other forms of the fancy, still exist as part of the amusements of the lower orders is perfectly true, but they can no longer be classed as among the amusements of those who cannot afford to pay high prices of admission to illegal entertainments.--Sims: How the Poor Live.

The word very soon became specialised with reference to the devotees of the prize ring.

They hurried to be present at the ex. pected scene with the alacrity of gentlemen of the fancy hastening to a set to.-Scott: St. Ronan's Well.

Other meaning explained by quotation. His father took a great deal to the fancy . . it meant dealing in birds, and dogs, and rabbits. - J. Greenwood: The Little Ragamuffins.

Fanqui (Anglo-Chinese), a Euro

pean; literally foreign devil. Fanteeg (popular), to be “in a

regular fanteeg,"to be perplexed, embarrassed, to be at one's wits' end (provincial English).

Far back (tailors), an indifferent

workman or an ignorant per.

son.

Farm (common), a place where il.

legitimate children are boarded, or rather starved, for a given sum.

There can be no question that he has a better chance . . . though his treacherous "adopter" deserts him on a door-step, than if he were so kindly cruel as to tolerate his existence at the farm.-Greenwood : Seven Curses of London.

(Prison), the prison hospital. He ... first entered into a critical description of the dietary system of the farm infirmary.-Evening News.

To "fetch the farm,” to obtain infirmary treatment and diet. ... The dodges which would take place to "fetch the farm.”—Evening News. Farmer (common), one who keeps

a “farm,” which see.

These are not the farmers who append to their advertisements the notification that children of ill-health are not objected to.Greenwood : Seven Curses of London.

(Thieves), an alderman. In Kent a hare. Fashno, fashni, fashioni (gypsy),

false, counterfeit ; fashni augustrins, false (gold) rings; also fashino fauny. (Pauny is cant

ing.) Fast (common), in want of money.

Same as “hard up." Fat (thieves), money. French

slang, graisse. Pat cull, a rich man. (Printers), paying work in contradistinction to bad or “ lean” work. This paying work consists of blank spaces in a page which are paid for at the same rate as pages fully printed. Short lines of verse set up in type are also considered as being fat. (Popular), vide CUT IT FAT, CUT UP FAT. (Theatrical), a part with good lines and telling situation that gives the player an opportunity of appearing to advantage is said to be fat, or to have fat. When an actor has a part

of this kind, his colleagues are wont to say “he's got all the fat.” (Princeton College), remittances of money to students. (English and American), fat thing, something which is very profitable or “fat." “Those concerns will some time be unable to pay their interest,” say these wise men, “and then we will step in and get a fat thing."-American Newspaper. Fat flab (Winchester), part of a

breast of mutton. Father (thieves), a receiver of

stolen property. (University), father of a college, the prælector who presents his men for degrees and represents the parents. (Printers), a person elected to preside as chairman to the "chapel" (which see) when held. He acts as a medium between master and men. (Naval), the dockyard name given to the

builder of a ship of the navy. Fatness (common), wealth.

That a man who has enjoyed so many

That a man who has years of fatness should die in absolute penury. - Sporting Times. Fawney (thieves), a ring; also

"fauney." We believe that the fauneys on the hands were not molested, probably being left to be requisitioned on some future occasion. -Bird o' Freedom.

Hotten gives the derivation, Irish, fainee, a ring. Fawney bouncing (thieves), sell

ing rings for a pretended wager. Fawney dropper (thieves), one

who practises the ring-dropping trick. Vide FAWNEY RIG.

Feet (old), “to make feet for

children's stockings," to beget children.

Shallow fellows gad the hoof and fence their cant of togs, whilst fawney droppers gammon the flats and take the yokels in.Ducange Anglicus: The Vulgar Tongue. Fawney rig (thieves), the ring.

dropping trick. A rogue drops a valueless ring or other article of jewellery and when he sees a person picking it up, claims half; or, he pretends to have just found the article and offers it for sale to a passer-by at a low price. A few years ago the article offered was generally

a meerschaum pipe. Fawnied (thieves), with rings,

wearing rings. Feathers (popular), money. Pro

bably from the phrase to

“feather one's nest.” Feed (common), a meal.

When he did give a feed he always limited the invitation to four.-Bird o' Freedom.

(Football), to feed, to support. Feeder (thieves), a silver spoon.

(Nautical), a small river falling into a large one, or into a dock or float. Peeders in pilots' language are the passing spurts of rain which “ feed” a gale

(Smyth). Feeding gale (nautical), a storm

which is on the increase, sometimes getting worse at each succeeding squall. When a gale freshens after rain it is said to

have fed the gale (Smyth). Feele (popular and thieves), a

girl; from the French fille, or the Italian figlia.

Feet casements, a humorous ex

pression for shoes or boots.

But he managed without it; only the new feet casements were not seasoned. Toby. Fegaries (American), old English

for “vagaries,” fads, caprices, whimsies, odd fancies, whims. A common word in New Eng

land. Fell and didn't (tailors) is said of

a man who walks lame. Felling a bit on (tailors), North

ern fell, sharp, crafty, doing

something underhand. Fellow - commoner (Cambridge

University), an empty bottle

(Hotten). Fellow-comp. (printers), a term

of familiarity used by composi. tors amongst themselves, especially for those employed in the

same office. Fellow-P. (printers), a designa

tion applied to each other by apprentices that have been bound to the same master or firm, whether in the past or in the present. In some large offices it is customary to have an annual gathering of these fellow-P.8, and such reunions are very sociable, and the traditions of a firm are thus

handed down, Fen(thieves), a prostitute. A mis.

pronunciation of femme, or from

the Anglo-Saxon fen or fenn, mud, dirt. Compare with the French gadoue, meaning both Paris mud and prostitute.

(American and provincial Eng. lish), a boy's exclamation to express warning or prohibition. “ Pen puds,” or “fen ball,” keep away the ball; from English “fence off,” or very old English, fend, ward off. English boys use the word “feign,” I decline;

also "feign it,” leave off. Fence (thieves), a receiver of

stolen property ; also his house or shop. Probably from "fence'

singular it is that not only is the same idea embodied in the phrase as in the Latin prævaricato, viz., “straddling with distorted legs,” but that it should also carry with it almost exactly the same figurative meaning as the classical word. “To sit on the fence," in political cant par. lance, is to wait and see how things go before committing oneself to definite action or partisanship. A kind ohangin' sound an' settin' on

the fence, Till Providence pinted how to jump an' save the most expense.

-Biglow Papers. Sometimes the phrase is varied with “sitting on both sides of the hedge.” The expression is of Western growth, being traceable to the care with which the squatter fences in his lot; it also being a point of vantage at the top of which, at the close of the day's work, he can smoke his pipe and survey his possessions while thinking out his plans for the future.

in."

About two moon after this same fence fell for buying two finns.--Horsley: Jottings from Jail.

G. Parker, in his “Variegated Characters,” says: “In Field Lane, where the handkerchiefs are carried, there are a number of shops called “fence shops,' where you buy any number.”

Fence-riding (American), said of

those who wait to see which side it will pay them to indorse, and then when victory or suc. cess seems certain, to throw in their lot with the winning side.

This question is one of clear right and wrong, and there can be no fence-riding when the rights of four millions of men are at stake.-Congressional Globe. Fence, sitting on the. Although

without doubt American in its later usage, the idea conveyed is “as old as the hills.” Trench, in his “ English Past and Pre. sent,” page 300, points out how

Fence, to (thieves), to sell stolen

property, or take it to a receiver's. The term is old.

It's not the first time that I have fenced a rum screen with him.-G. Parker : Variegated Characters.

Also to spend money. Fencing crib (thieves), a place where stolen property can be disposed of.

Fencing cully (old), a receiver of

stolen goods.

Ferg, to (Vermont University),

old English ferke, to basten, proceed, go. As going out of a rage. German vergehen. When a man is cooling down from intense excitement or passion he is said to ferg.

Ferguson (common), generally

heard expressed as, “It's all very well, Mr. Perguson; you're very good-looking, but you can't come in." Said to be addressed to men who are not known attempting to obtain admission to “close" gambling - houses, or other haunts of dissipation, where close watch is kept for fear of the police. There is a song which has this sentence for a refrain. It was very common, and used with many applications from 1845 to 1850.

similar way. Old English fese,

to frighten, make afraid. And when you and I and Benny and

General Jackson too, Are brought before a final board our course

of life to view, May we never fess on any point, but then

be told to go To join the army of the blest, with Benny Havens, O!

-Song: Benny Havens, O! Fetch (common), a success; to

fetch, to please, to arouse lively interest, excite admiration. “You come up to the window and touch your hat, and say, 'Luggage all in, my Lord ;' that will fetch 'em."-Bird o Freedom

(Theatrical), is said of a play or entertainment which finds great favour with the public and attracts large audiences.

The masher's ballet is one of the features of the show and ought to fetch north London.— Evening News.

(Thieves), to fetch the farm. Vide FARM.

Ferret (thieves), a young thief

who gets into a coal barge and throws coal over the side to his confederates. (Old), a tradesman who, having supplied goods at ruinous prices on credit, continually duns his customers for

payment. Ferricadouzer, a knock - down

blow, a good thrashing (Hotten). Evidently derived from the Italian fare cadere, to cause to fall, and dosso, back.

Fetch a lagging, to (thieves), to

be serving out one's sentence at

a convict establishment. Millbank for thick shins and graft at the

pump, Broadmoor for all lags as go off their

chump, Brixton for good toke and cocoa with fat, Dartmoor for bad grub but plenty of chat, Portsmouth a blooming bad place for hard

work, Chatham on Sunday gives four ounces of

pork, Portland is the worst of the lot for to joke

in, For fetching a lagging there is no place

like Woking.
-A Thief's Production, quoted by

Horsley: Jottings from Jail.

Fess, to (American university), to

fail in reciting the lesson, together with a mute appeal for no further questions to be put. The military cadets at West Point also use the word in a

Fetch—Fiddler's green.

339

Fetch up, to (popular), to startle.

(American), to come to light, and said, for example, of the bodies of drowned people.

“Bodies that come over the falls, they mostly fetch up here."

“Things always fetch up sooner or later, but it's sometimes a week before we get 'em."--Between Two Oceans.

Also to recruit one's strength, to recover from some illness. Fettle (popular), “ in good fettle,"

in good order, well equipped. Also in a good state of mind,

jolly, or very drunk. Fever-time (Winchester College),

the time when superannuated college prefects go for a fort. night into a sick-room in order to “mug,” that is, to give them

selves up to hard study. Fez (Harrow), the tasselled cap worn by members of a football eleven. A member of that society. Fibbery (thieves), lying. From “fib." And if you come to fibbery You must mug one or two.

– The Leary Man. Fibbing gloak (old cant), a pugi

list. Fibbing match (thieves), a prize

fight. Fibbings(boxing), rapid, repeated

blows, delivered at a short

distance. I say, could I borrow these gentlemen's

muses, More skilled than my neck, or in fibbings and bruises.

- Ingoldsby Legends.

Fib, to (old cant), to strike, beat.

(Boxing), to deliver rapid blows
at a short distance.
Each cull completely in the dark
Resolved his fibbing not to mind.

-Ainsworth: Rookwood. ... His whole person put in chancery, stung, bruised, fibbed, propped, fiddled, slogged, and otherwise ill-treated.-Cuthbert Bede: Adventures of Mr. Verdant Green.

To tell lies. Fickle Johnny Crow (West In

dian), one who does not know

his own mind. Fiddle (Stock Exchange) a six

teenth part of £i. Done at a fidale; "Sugar" getting in! -Atkin: House Scraps.

(Thieves), a whip. (Popular), a sharper; the Scotch fiddle, the itch; a sixpence, possibly from the expression “fiddler's money,” sixpences. (Tailors), second fiddle, an unpleasant task. Fiddle-face (popular), a wizened

countenance. Fiddler (pugilistic), a pugilist who

depends more on his activity than upon his strength or stay. (Popular), a sharper, a cheat, a careless, dilatory person. Also

a sixpence or farthing. Fiddler's green (nautical), a sort

of sensual Elysium, where sailors are represented as enjoying for a “full due” those amenities for which Wapping, Castle Rag, and the back of Portsmouth Point were once noted (Smyth).

Fiddle, to (thieves), to gamble and

consequently to cheat. (Popu
lar), to get one's living by doing
small jobs in the streets. To
play upon, to take in.
She's diddled me, she's fiddled me, nigh
Sent me off my chump.

-Robson : Ballad. (Common), to take liberties with a woman. (American), to intrigue, or intrigue craftily. Bob is the man who fiddled himself into Congress. -St. Louis Chronicle.

(Pugilistic), to strike. Fidlam bens (thieves), thieves

who have no speciality, who

will steal anything. Fidlam coves (thieves). Vide

FIDLAM BENS. Field (sport), the runners in any

race. (Turf), the horses in a race as opposed to the favourite. To “chop the field” is said of a horse that outstrips the rest, literally “whips" them. Vidc To CHOP. Bismarck, whose terrific speed enabled him to chop his field.--Sporting Times.

To "lay against the field,” is to back one horse against all comers. (Hunting), the riders.

The cry of the “ficld a pony," means that the layer is willing to bet even money on the general mass of runners against any one competitor. The backers would, of course, select the

favourite on these terms. Fielder (turf), one who backs the

"field" (which see) against one horse. Also a “layer" or "bookmaker."

Yet the confiding fielder who took this security stood him in Paris for about $100 -Bird o' Freedom. Field-lane duck (popular), a baked

sheep's head. Pield-lane was a low London thoroughfare leading from the foot of Holborn Hill to the purlieus of Clerken

well (Hotten). Field, to (Winchester College), to

jump into the water before another goes in, so as to assist him. (Turf), to back the “field," which see.

It cannot be denied that there has lately been an uncommon eagerness to fieldSporting Times. Field, to lead the (city), to set an

example which is followed by all others. Evidently an adap

tation of the sporting phrase. Fiery lot (popular), a word which

does not mean in ordinary slang
hot-tempered so much as “fast"
and rollicking.
Berty isn't bad-tempered, though he's

such a fiery lot;
And he's cool, though when he's spree.
ing, he's a boy that goes it hot.

-Broadside: My Berty. Fi-fa (legal), a writ of fieri.

facias, i.e., a writ lying for him who has recovered an action of debt or damages, to levy the debt or damages against whom

the recovery was had. Fifer (tailors), a waistcoat-maker. Fig (common), “to be in full fin,"

in full dress; figuretto, figured silk, the finest and most expen. sive dress. Old English from the Italian (Halliwell). Dr.

Brewer says this term is a cor. ruption of the Italian in fiocchi, in gala costume. Hotten thinks it may be an allusion to the figleaf of our first parents. Another but more probable etymo. logy is that it is taken from the word full fig. (figure) in fashion books.

(Horsedealers), to fig a horse is to apply ginger to a horse to make him appear lively, to make him carry a fine tail.

Figure man (studios), the prin

cipal figure in a picture. In French artists' language, le bonhomme. Filau (Anglo-Indian), explained

by quotation.

He is ambitious of being Vice-President of the Municipal Committee, or a Filau (Anglicè Fellow) of the University, and it is requisite that his qualifications should be made more widely known.-St. James's Gazette.

Figged out (popular), dressed in

best clothes, in full costume. Figger (thieves), vide FagGER. Fighting tight (American), drunk

and quarrelsome. Extremely drunk. In those unburdened days a quarter of a dollar would buy enough sour mash to make an ordinary man fighting tight, but now it would take the larger part of a dollar.--Chicago Tribune. Fight one's weight in wild cats,

to (American), to be full of courage and “go."

John Halkett, as I learned afterwards, could fight his weight in wild cats.--The Golden Butterfly. Fig leaf (common), a small ornamented apron worn by ladies. (Fencing), the apron or padding protecting the lower part of the abdomen and the right

thigh. Figure dancer (thieves), one who

alters the numbers or figures on

bank-notes. Figure-head (nautical), the face.

Filbert (popular), cracked in the

filbert, slightly insane. File (thieves), a pickpocket; file is

a very old English term of contempt for a worthless, dishonest person. Probably connected with“ vile” or “defile.” The greatest character among them was that of a pickpocket, or, in their language, a file.-Fielding : Jonathan Wild.

“The file is generally accompanied by the ‘Adam tiler' and the bulker' or 'staller.' It is their business to jostle or * ramp' the victim, while the file picks his pocket and then hands the plunder to the Adam, who makes off with it" (New York Slang Dictionary).

(Common), a cunning or artful man. Also silent file; lime sourde, or dumb file, in French slang. He blewed a monkey, that silent file, And ripped me the wink with a slippery

smile.

- Earl of Winchelsea : Lay of the

Cooperer.

342

Fillibrush—Finnicky.

Find.fags have to procure from the shops in the town anything that may be required besides the regulation bread and butter for tea.- Everyday Life in our Public Schools.

I am committed for the filing-lay, man, and we shall be both nubbed together. Fielding : Jonathan Wild. Fillibrush, to flatter, praise ironi.

cally (Hotten). Filly (London), a young girl.

At last I've got a little filly of my own. -Sporting Times.

(Thieves), a daughter. Possibly from the Italian figlia, or the French fille. Also used generally for a young woman; in this sense probably derived from the name for a young

mare. Fimble-famble (common), a lame

excuse; from to fimble, to fumble, and to famble, to stutter; both

provincialisms. Fin (common), the hand, origi

nally a sea-term. You'll find if you put half-a-crown in his fin, It's so much the better for you.

-Song: French sailors use the corresponding term nageoire. Find (Harrow School), explained

by quotation. In a large house there are usually four sixth-form finds (a Harrow term signifying a mess of three or four upper boys who take tea and breakfast in one of their own rooms). -Everyday Life in our Public Schools.

To find, to mess together. Finder (thieves), a thief; one who

steals meat at a market. (Uni. versity), term used at Caius for

a waiter in hall. Find-fag (public schools), a kind

of fag thus described.

Fine (shopkeepers), cutting it fine,

cheating in various ways, adul.

terating articles of food. Fine-drawing (tailors), accom

plishing an object without being

seen. Fingerpost (old), a clergyman. Fingersmith (thieves), explained

by quotation. Some traces of humour are to be found in certain euphemisms, such as the delicate expression fingersmith as descriptive of a trade which a blunt world might call that of a pickpocket.-Horsley : Jottings from Jail.

Also a midwife. Finjy (Winchester College), said

when an unpleasant or unacceptable task had to be done by a number of boys. He who said the word last of all had to

do it. Finn, finnup, finnuf (thieves), a

five-pound note. German-Jewish, finnuf. It is a pronun. ciation of fünf peculiar to Yid. dish. When we got into the rattler they showed me the pass; yes, there it was, fifty quids in double finns (ten.pound notes). - Horsley: Jottings from Jail. Finnicky (common), from “finni.

kin” (“fine" with a diminutive termination), idly busy. We don't want to get into international trouble, but we must say that Mexico is getting a trifle finnicky.-Bind o Freedom.

Finnup ready (sporting), a five

pound note. My reason for placing the old 'un there is on account of his having touched a finnup ready--this is a good old sporting term--and I expect the extra five pounds will just stop him getting home, or rather getting out.-Bird o' Freedom. Fipenny (thieves), a clasp knife.

The term is in common use in
Australia, where it was intro-

duced by the convicts. Fire (thieves), danger. Fire and light (nautical), nick

name of the master-at-arms

(Smyth). Fire a slug, to (old), to drink a

dram of spirits. Fired (American), arrested, taken

up, turned out. Tell him he mustn't fall asleep in a public place or he'll get fired, and ask him if you can't go to get him a cab.--Confidence Crooks : Philadelphia Press.

Also rejected; often applied by artists to rejected pictures. Fire-eater (printers), a term for

oral storm for quick compositors. Savage, in his “Dictionary of the Art of Printing," 1841, gives this term.

(Tailors), one who does a great amount of work in a very short

time. Fire-escape (popular), a clergy

man. Fire priggers (thieves), thieves who take advantage of a fire, or in the crowd, to plunder or pick

pockets. Fire spaniels (military), soldiers

who sit round and close up to

Firky toodle (popular), to cuddle

or fondle; to firk, on the con. trary, means to beat, to chastise. In the same way the French caresser, literally to

caress, means also to beat. Firmed (theatrical), well firmed,

perfect in the “ business” and

words. First-chop (American), excellent,

first-rate. In “Sam Slick in England,” it is thus explained : “This phrase is used all through the United States as a synonym for first-rate.” The word chop is Chinese for quality. He looks like a first-chop article. Vide CHOP. “Wall," ses Linkin, “I think that is a first-chop idea.”—Major Jack Downing. First flight (sporting), the first

persons at the finish in any kind

of race, in a fox-hunt. First nighters (journalistic), musical or dramatic critics who naturally attend on first nights.

The production of Anton Rubenstein's “Demon" in the charming Russian dialect at the oddly-named Jodrell Theatre, has, so far, been the only opportunity for first nighters to distinguish themselves.-Sport. ing Times.

More generally people who make a point of attending the first performance of plays.

Flash-Flat-footed.

Flash of lightning (thieves), a

glass of gin. “Will you have a flash of lightning ?". “I am just going to have some slim."Parker: Variegated Characters. Flash, to (popular and thieves),

to show; "flash your dibs,” show your money. Cocum gonnofs flash by night the cooters in the boozing kens.-Ducange Anglicus : The Vulgar Tongue.

“To flash one's ivories,” to laugh. (Thieves), "to flash the hash," to vomit. (Common), "to flash the dicky," to show

the shirt front. Flashy blade (old cant), a fellow

who dresses smart (G. Parker). Flat (general), an inexperienced, easily imposed on person.

What a flat,
To seek such an asylum as that.

-Ingoldsby Legends. (Sharpers), flat-catching, swin. dling simple-minded people or countrymen, generally by means of the confidence trick, or some such primitive “dodge." ... To mark the many kinds of bait that are used in flat-catching, as the turf slang has it.-Greenwood : Seven Curses of London.

(Prostitutes), picking up a flat, finding a client. ... On the chance that she will in the course of the evening pick up a flat. Greenwood : Seven Curses of London. Flat-catcher (prison), one who

swindles foolish or confiding persons by selling painted sparrows, pretending to have picked up a valuable ring, the confidence trick, &c.

Flatch (back slang), half, or half

penny. (Coiners), a bad half

crown. Flatch-enore (costermongers' back slang), half-a-crown.

“Why, I've cleared a flatchenore a'ready, but kool esilop (look at the police), nammus

(be off)." Flat-feet (popular), a foot-soldier;

applied generally to the Foot

guards. Flat-fish (popular), a dull, stupid

fellow. Flat-footed (American). There is

a very interesting and accurate description of flat-footed, by R. A. Proctor, in his “Americanisms," published in Knowledge, June 1, 1887. “The significance of this word in America is very different from that of the French word pied-plat, identical though the words may be in their primary mean ing. A French pied-plat is a contemptible fellow; but an American flat-foot is a man who stands firmly for his party.... When in America General Grant said he had

put his foot down,' and meant to advance in that line if it took him all the summer, he conveyed ... the American meaning of the expression flat-footed."

It may be observed that flat, in the senses of downright, reso. lute, firm, plain, direct, straightforward, or simple, is Dutch, and that platt Deutsch means “plain Dutch " (Sewell). Plat afslaan, or plat afzeggen, is to give a flat refusal, or to refuse “right up and down.” But the connection between setting the foot down firmly or flat, and a deter

minate resolution, may probably

be found in most languages. Flat-head (American) a green

horn. Flat-move (thieves), the action of

a fool, dupe. Any attempt that miscarries, or any act of folly or

mismanagement. Flats and chits (thieves), bugs

and fleas (Baumann). Flats (thieves) playing cards;

(tailors) mahogany flats, bugs. Flats-yad (tailors), back slang

used by stock cutters, a day's

enjoyment or jollification. Flat taste (tailors), very indiffer

ent judgment. Flatten out, to (American), “I

flattened him out," i.e., I had the best of him, of the argument.

(Tailors), fattened out, without resources of any kind, beaten. Flatter trap (thieves), the mouth ;

called by French rogues la men

teuse. Flatty (popular), a variant of

“flat,” a greenhorn, a fool. Flatty-ken (thieves), a public

house the landlord of which is ignorant of the practices of the thieves and tramps who fre

quent it (Hotten). Flax, to (American), to beat,

punish, to "give it” to any one severely in any way. “Flax it into him," let him have it hot. “Flacks," blows or strokes (East).

Flay-bottomist (common), a

schoolmaster, so called from
his occasional office of bircher

to unruly or disobedient pupils. Flea-bag (popular), a bed. In

French slang, pucier, i.e., a re

ceptacle for fleas. Flemish account (nautical), a

complicated and unsatisfactory account, one in which there is

a deficit. Flesh and blood, brandy and port

in equal quantities (Hotten). Flesh-bag (common), a shirt. Flesh Fleshy (Winchester), a thick cut

out of the middle of a shoulder of mutton. Fletches (prison), spurious coins. Flicker (thieves), a glass ; to

flicker, to drink; from flacket, a

flask, a very old word. Flick, to (thieves), to beat, to

cut; “ Alick the panam,” cut the bread. (Popular), old flick,

old fellow. Flies (trading), perhaps the latest

slang word introduced to signify a customer.

(Popular), trickery, nonsense; no flies, without humbug, seri. ously. “In this sense,” says Hotten, "flies is a softening of “ lies." That's poz, dear old pal, and no flies.

- Punch, (Printers), an ancient name for the printers' devils, from an old cant term for spirits attendant on magicians, more par.

ticularly applied to the boys who lifted the newspapers from the press.

These boys do in a printing - house commonly black and bedaub themselves, whence the workmen do jocosely call them devils, and sometimes spirits, and sometimes flies.--Academy of Armory, R. Holme, 1688; and Gentleman's Magazine, October 1732. Flimming, Alim-flamming (Ame

rican thieves' flash or slang), in England, “ringing the changes.” It is supposed to be partly derived from "flimsy," a bank-bill, and “ flam,” to cheat. But “flim-flam," for a shiny, deceptive cheat or trifle,

is an old expression. Flimp, to (thieves), to hustle and

rob. Also refers to highway robbery, “to put on the flimp."

Flimping is a kind of theft which I have never practised, and consequently of which I know nothing.-H. Kingsley: Ravens.

But the right sort of flimsy, all signed by Monteagle.

- Ingoldsby Legends. The term is now in common use. “Well, I shall have a fiver on White Wings, and chance it," and the Correspon. dent put down his flimsy, and everybody jeered. —Sporting Times.

(Printers), an expression used for telegraph forms, or anything

written on thin paper. Fling (common), properly a kind

of dance. “To have his fling,"
to lead a merry life.
In London he has settled down;
He means to have his fling in town,
A little king without a crown.

Who finds the money? -- Dagonet: The Great Mystery. In the above the reference is to General Boulanger. Flint (workmen), an operative who works for a “society" master, i.e., for full wages. In the early part or middle (1836-7, C.W.S.) of the present century, a strike for higher wages took place in London. The men who “ held out” were known as “flints," while those who succumbed received the opprobrious name of “dungs." Both these names are used in Foote's play, The

Tailors. Flint into, to (American), varied

to pour in, fire away, tumble on to, pitch into. There may be possibly fifty such words more or less in use, meaning to go at something, to begin to act, to tackle anything.

hoe.

Also to steal by wrenching off. He told me as Bill had flimped a yack, and pinched a swell of a fawney. -Ducange Anglicus: The Vulgar Tongue.

Flimsy (journalistic), paragraphs,

items of news, comments; from the name of their prepared copying-paper, used by newspaper reporters for producing several copies at once.

I wonder who supplies the flimsy about naval matters to the Times and other dailies. Occasionally the mistakes are gro. tesque in the extreme. -Sunday Times.

(Thieves), bank notes. In English Exchequer bills full half a

million, Not kites manufactured to cheat and

inveigle,

Flippers, flappers, very young girls trained to vice, generally for the amusement of elderly men; floppers is a provincialism for young birds beginning to

spread their wings. Flirtina cop-all (popular), a girl

generally, or one too fond of men. “Cop” has the significa

tion of catch. Floater (Whitechapel), a small

suet dumpling put into soup

(Hotten), Floaters. The Cornhill Magazine

gives the following explanation :-“ An interesting, but one would hope decaying, class of voters are the floaters, the electors whose suffrages are to be obtained for a pecuniary consideration. There is a story told of a candidate in an Ameri. can township who asked one of

the local party managers how many voters there were. •Four hundred,' was the reply. 'And how many floaters?' 'Four hundred !' Somewhat akin to the floaters are those who sit

on the fence'-men with impartial minds, who wait to see, as another petty phrase has it,

how the cat will jump,' and whose convictions at last generally bring them down on that side of the fence where are to be found the biggest battalions and the longest purses. These floaters and men 'on the fence' used in the olden times to be the devoted adherents of the 'man in the moon.' When an election was near at hand it was noised abroad throughout the constituency that the man in the moon' had arrived, and from the time of that august visitor's mysterious arrival many of the free and independent electors dated their possession of those political principles which they manfully supported by their votes at the poll. Of course no candidate bribedsuch a thing was not to be thought of; but still the money was circulating, and votes were bought, and as it was necessary to fix the responsibility upon some one, the whole business was attributed to the action of the 'man in the moon.'”

Floating academy (old cant), the

hulks ; “Duncan Campbell's floating academy," formerly the hulks at Woolwich.

My man is hobbled upon the leg for three years on board Duncan Campbell's floating academy for napping a clink. G. Parker: Variegated Characters. Floating batteries (soldiers), bits

of bread broken up and put in the evening tea. When soldiers are under stoppages or otherwise impecunious and unable to buy herrings, bacon, sausages, and other savoury articles for the tea meal, they are compelled to do with floating bat

teries. See SLINGERS. Floating hell (old slang). The

hulks were so called by those who brought themselves within

the clutches of the law. Flock of sheep (domino players),

the row of dominoes before a

player (Baumann). Flogger (common), a whip.

Compared with the light and elegant floggers of the present day, it is a heavy, common “riding companion," with a massive silver handle, with a short twisted lash. -Sporting Times. Flogging (popular), a man who

is careful and penurious is said

to be flogging, or saving his coin. Flogging cove (prison), the

official who administers the cat. Floored (studios), is said of a

picture hung on the lowest row at the Exhibition of the Royal

Academy. Floorer (pugilistic), a knock-down

blow. (Common), unexpected news of an unpleasant nature; a decisive argument or retort; a question which utterly embarrasses one.

The Putney Pet stared. ... The inquiry for his college was in the language of his profession a "regular floorer."-Cuthbert Bede: Adventures of Mr. Verdant Green.

(Schools), a question or paper too hard to be mastered, that on the contrary masters you. (Skittles), a stroke that brings

all the pins down. Floor, to. This word is recog.

nised in the sense of to strike down, hence to put to silence by some decisive argument or retort: given by Wright as college cant, with the sense of “to throw on the floor as done with; hence to finish with." Gathered from the quotationI've floored my little-go work.-Hughes: Tom Brown at Oxford.

In the above the true sense is, “I have mastered," &c. Dr. Brewer says: “Thus we say at the University, I Moored that paper,' i.e., answered every question on it; I foored that problem,' did it perfectly, or made

myself master of it.” Floor-walker (American), a man

employed in shops to ask those who enter what they want, and direct them to the department where it is sold.

I next went into a shop a few doors farther up Broadway. When I entered I approached the floor-walker, and handing him my sample, said: “Have you any calico like this?” “Yes, sir," said he. “Third counter to the right.”-Frank R. Stockton.

Called in England shopwalkers. Flop (Vermont University), ex

plained by quotation.

And that orator was fluffed, and the meeting broke up in confusion.—Bird o' Freedom.

Any "cute" performance by which a man is sold is a good flop, and by a phrase borrowed from the tall ground is "rightly played.” The discomfited individual de. clares that they “are all on a side,” and gives up, or “rolls over," by giving his opponent “gowdy.” A man writes cards during examination to "feeze the profs ;” said cards are "gumming cards," and he flops the examination if he gets a good mark by the means. One usually flops his marks by feigning sickness.-Hall: College Words and Customs.

Fluffer (common), of unsteady

habits. M. E. — is a bachelor, and, if I may use the expression, a flufer. He has had his romance, as Mdme. - (the actress) could tell it. - Evening News. Fluffings (railway ticket clerks),

the proceeds from short change

given by them. Fluff it (popular), a term of dis

approbation, implying “ take it away, I don't want it” (Hotten).

Floreat (Westminster), the toast

drunk at the election dinners and other great occasions generally from the large silver cup presented by Warren Hastings and other old Westminsters, and commonly known as the “Elephant Cup,” from its handles, which are in the shape of ele

phants' heads. Floricus (Winchester College), an

urinal or latrine. Flour (American), one of the

innumerable synonyms for money, or value. Flounder, in the slang of water.

rats—i.e., men who rifle the pockets of drowned people—is the body of a poor, ragged,

drowned man. Flowery (tramps), lodging or

house entertainment (Hotten). Flue-faker (popular and thieves),

a chimney-sweep. Fluff (railway ticket clerks), short

change given by such. To fuff

is to give short change. Fluff, to (popular), to take away;

also to disconcert, put to silence.

Fluke (general), a thing obtained

by chance when trying to get another. From a term at billiards, playing to score in one way and scoring in another. Plack, provincialism for a blow or stroke. A fuke at billiards was originally a fying stroke (Skeat). Dutch vlug. These conditions are not often fulfilled, I can tell you : it is a happy fluke when they are. - Black : Princess of Thule Fluky(common), obtained through

a “fluke,” which see. Don't be cross-I've been learning my lesson

Can describe who's "bowled clean,"

Which a fluky hit's been, And almost know Forster from Gresson, And haven't a doubt of Nepean.

-Bird o' Freedom.

Flummocks (tailors), to spoil. A

variant of “flummux," which see.

Flummux, flummox, to (popular),

to perplex, confound, bewilder.

My 'pinion is, Sammy, that if your governor don't prove a alleybi. he'll be what the Italians call reg'larly fiummoxed.—Dickens : Pickwick Papers.

(Theatrical), to distress, to annoy, to upset an actor in his business. Forty years ago, when the late Charles Kean was acting “Macbeth” in Belfast, a stupid, inattentive actor kept the stage waiting for Seyton, in “Macbeth,” for a considerable period. When the act was over he was profuse with servile apologies. Kean was obdurate, and dismissed the fellow with“Fool! fool! you distressedyou ruined-you tortured-you

-you-flummused me!” Flummused (thieves), done up,

sure of a month in prison (Hot

ten). Flunk, to (American), to die out, to give out, to fail, to make a feeble effort and then collapse. Possibly a New York or New Jersey (Princeton) word, from the Dutch flonk, flonker, flonken, to "twinkle” or sparkle like a star, bright at one instant and then invisible. It is generally used in American colleges for a failure in recitation. In a funk the student at least makes an effort before he breaks down, but in a “dead funk" he makes none, and simply exclaims, “Not prepared." In moody meditation sunk, Reflecting on my future flunk.

-Songs of Yale College. Flunkey (nautical), the ship's

steward. (American), a man

who is unacquainted with the secrets of the Stock Exchange, makes rash ventures, and loses his money. The original funkey, a footman, is from the French flanquer, to run by the side of

(Skeat). Flush (popular), full to the brim,

that is, intoxicated. Properly affluent, abounding. We would tempt him from the alehouse bench he occupied when flush, or the dead wall he propped up when impecunious.-Globe.

When one has plenty of cash he is said to be fush. Lord Strut was not very flush in ready. -Arbuthnot, Flush in the fob (thieves), well

supplied with money. Flush, to (popular), to whip. Flustered (common), intoxicated. Flutter (popular), used in this

phrase: “I'll have a flutter for it,” I shall do my utmost. Also

tossing with coins. Flutter, to (popular), to toss for

Fly(popular and thieves), knowing,

wide-awake, well acquainted or familiar with, versed in. “You seem to know all that's going on?" “Oh yes : I'm Ay."- The Youth's Comepanion. Although when they try their games with

me, I let them see That I am fly to all their tricks, ... -Song: That's a Game Best Left

Alone.

air. (English and American), a chance venture, a risk or baz. ard taken without much fore. thought, commonly applied to an off-hand speculation in stock. He began ... with a small flyer at the race-track.-American Newspaper. Flyers (thieves), shoes (New York

Slang Dictionary).

To be fly, to understand, realise. “Do what I want, and I will pay you well." ... "I am fly," says Joe. — Dickens : Bleak House.

The designer is said to be fly at everything, to be up to everything, and down at everything. – Diprose : Laugh and

Laueh and Learn.

The term is probably from a simile referring to rapidity of comprehension. To be fly in Northamptonshire signifies to be quick at taking offence, at Aying into a passion. A ny was originally a light carriage for rapid motion; and mouche, i.e., fly, is the name given to penny boats on the Seine. (Popular), “ to be on the fly,” to

be out for a day's pleasure. Fly by night (popular), removing

the furniture by night to escape paying rent. “Shooting the moon." I remember one night while shooting the

mnoon,
We were all in a terrible fright;
The landlord came in a little too soon,
And stopped our fly-by-night.

-Sidney Barnes: Shooting the Moon, Fly-cop (thieves), a sharp police

man. Flyer (sport), a term denoting

excellence.

The New Zealanders are not such Ayer's as was at first imagined. - The Tatler. By successful heavy plunging he acquired

no little fame, And he evidently thought himself a flyer at the game.

-Sporting Times. (Football), to kick a Ayer, to kick the ball bigh up in the

Fly-flat (turf), one who really

knows little or nothing about racing, but fancies himself thoroughly initiated in all its mysteries. There are plenty of schoolmasters always ready to teach him the lesson that "a little knowledge is a danger

ous thing." Flying a kite (commercial), draw.

ing accommodation bills. No doubt but he might without any great

flight, Have obtained it by what we call flying a

kite; Or on mortgage-or sure, if he couldn't so

do it, he Must have succeeded “by way of an. nuity."

-Ingoldsby Legends. Flying, blue pigeon (thieves).

“Thieves who fly the blue pigeon, that is, who steal lead off houses, or cut pipes away ... cut a hundredweight of lead, which they wrap round their bodies next to the skin. This they call a 'bible,' and what they steal and put in their pockets they call a 'testa

ment” (G. Parker). Flying coves (thieves), fellows

who obtain money by pretending

to persons who have been robbed that they can give them information that will be the means of recovering their lost goods (New York Slang Dictionary).

Flying jiggers (thieves), turn

pike-gates. Flying marc (popular), a throw in

wrestling (Hotten).

Flying mess, to be in a (soldiers),

to be hungry and have nothing to eat.

Flying rather high (common),

intoxicated. A more advanced stage is when the subject is “corned,” or on his “fourth,” or has his “back teeth afloat." “Paralysed” or “boiling drunk" means very much intoxicated.

“Fly a kite," vide FLYING A

KITE. Fly to wot's wot (popular), fully

understanding, Percessions I've got a bit tired of, hoof

padding, and scrouging's dry rot, But Political Picnics mean sugar to them as is fly to wot's wot.

-Punch. Fly-trap (popular), the mouth.

Among costermongers it may often be heard when another of their fraternity is unusually vociferous in shouting his wares

-“Shut up your fly-trap." Fob, to (old cant), to pick a

pocket. Fogey (nautical), an invalid sol.

dier or sailor. Properly a man

becoming stupid with age. Fogged (tailors), puzzled, con

fused. Is said specially of one whose memory is at fault, who

is “in a fog." Fogging (railway), laying fog

signals.

They were identified as Benjamin Gold. ing, a porter, and Henry Barnes, a signal. man : both had been engaged fogging: Standard.

(Theatrical), getting through one's part anyhow, like a man

lost in a fog. Foggy (common), not quite sober. Fogle (thieves), a pocket-hand

kerchief.
But when beat on his knees, that con-

founded de Guise
Came behind with the fogle that caused
all the breeze.

- Ingoldsby Legends.

Flying stationer (street), a hawker

of ballads.

Fly low, to (popular), to evade

observation, to keep quiet. Thieves are said to fly low when keeping out of the way, because

“Wanted” by the police. Flymy (low), cunning ; fum, de

ceit, a provincialism same as “flam.”

Fly the kite, to (thieves), to make

one's exit by the window. Vide FLYING A KITE.

Fly, to (thieves), to toss up ; " to

Aly the mags,” to toss up the halfpence; “ to fly a window," to lift a window; "to fly the blue pigeon," to steal lead off roofs.

If you don't take fogles and tickers ... pocket-hankerchers and watches ...

- Dickens : Oliver Twist. From the German vogel, a bird's eye, being slang for pocket-handkerchief, or more probably from Italian foglia, a

piece of silk or satin. Fogle - hunter (thieves), pick.

pocket, stealer of handkerchiefs. “What's the matter now?" said the man carelessly. “A young fogle-hunter," replied the man who had Oliver in charge. --Dickens : Olizer Twist. Fogram (thieves), a fussy old

fellow (New York Slang Dictionary).

(Nautical), wine, beer, or spirits of indifferent quality; in

fact, any kind of liquor (Smyth). Fogue(thieves), fierce, fiery. Pos

sibly from the French fou

gueux. Fogus (old cant), tobacco. “From

fogo, old word for stench," says Hotten. Possibly from fog, fouge, moss, and foggage, rank grass. This derivation is borne out by the analogy of “weed," another term for tobacco with “to fog." Also by French cant

trèfle, trifoin, for tobacco. Foik, to (football). “To foik” a

ball out of the scrimmage is to pick it up with your hands before it is fairly out of the scrimmage, or to kick it out of the scrimmage backwards to one of your own “ behinds," to give him a chance of a “ run." Doubtless an imita. tion of “fake,” broadly pro

nounced in some provincial

dialect. Foist (old cant), a pickpocket, a

cheat. Follow me, lads (common), curls

hanging over a lady's shoulder. The French suivez - moi jeune homme refers to ribbons waving

behind from a lady's dress. Fooling around (American), tri

fling, not meaning business. As it stands pugilists are the puppets or partners of acute showmen, and the “Noble Art of Self-Defence" is being rapidly reduced to a money-making form of what Americans call fooling around. By all means let us have a real fight and stop this nonsense.-Daily Telegraph. Fool-killer (American), a myste

rious being in the great Yankee mythology, frequently alluded to by editors as being “in town.” The information is generally coupled with a warning to some prominent person that his life is in danger. St. John of Kansas says he is not “afraid." From this statement we infer, that if St. John of Kansas and the foolkiller ever meet, the fur will fly. Look out for locks of a dyed moustache.-American Newspaper. Fool's wedding (popular), an

assemblage of women at which no man is present. Cf. HEN CONVENTION. The metaphor probably is that of a wedding

without a bridegroom. Foont (thieves), explained by

quotation. I got between five or six foont (sovereigns.-Horsley: Jottings from Jail.

German pfund, pronounced foont. Footer (schools), football. There

are a number of slang terms formed by changing the legitimate ending of words into er. The custom is said to be derived from Harrow.

(Universities), one who plays football according to the Rugby

rules. Footing-up (American), but pro

bably of English origin.

The Arab abhors statistics. He won't be tabulated if he could help it, and were you to go to Algeria, Doctor Colenso, you would find a deeply rooted objection among the people to the reckoning or footing-up, as the Americans call it, of anything animate or inanimate.-Geo. A. Sala: A Trip to Barbary. Footman's maund (old), an arti

ficial sore in imitation of a kick from a horse, produced with unslaked lime, soap, and a piece

of old iron. Foot-riding (bicycling). When a

cyclist cannot ride bis iron steed, but is obliged to walk and wheel, it is called foot-riding. Already I realise that there is going to be as much foot-riding as anything for the first part of my journey.--Thomas Stevens ; Round the World on a Bicycle. Footsac (South Africa), be off !

An apostrophe to drive away intrusive dogs. Apparently a compound of the French foutre,

pronounced foute, and sacré. Foot scamp (old), a low fellow

that stops you with bludgeon, cutlass, or knife, and ill-treats you (G. Parker).

Foot wobbler (old), an infantry

soldier. Now termed a “wob

bler," or “mud-crusher." Footy (American and English),

a foolish person, a "goose,” a "coot.” It is an English provincialism signifying trifling, mean, inferior, of little worth.

I think it would be a very pretty bit of practice to the ship's company to take her out from under that footy battery. Marryat : Peter Simple.

Footy literally means “having foots," i.e., settlings, or dregs, as footy oil. Hence its appli. cation to anything inferior or worthless. It has been suggested, however, that footy comes from the French foutu, wbich among its various significations has that of inferior,

worthless. Foozle (American), a man who is

easily bumbugged, a fool. “This common slang word, which appears also as comfoozle, meaning fattery, cajoling, or humbugging, is probably derived from the Anglo-Indian foozilow, meaning quite the same thing. This is in its turn from the imperative pihuslão of the Hindu verb p'huslānā. It is to be here remarked that many Hindu words came at an early date to the ports of Boston and Salem direct from India, and not through England. The prefix com is possibly the Hindu kom,

love.' To com foozle, in Yankee, in fact means much the same as 'to mash,' but it also applies to bewilder, to lead one off the

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Force the voucher, a term in use

among sporting tricksters, who advertise to send certain winners, and on receipt of letters enclose vouchers similar to those sent out by respectable commission agents, but with double or treble the current odds marked thereon, in reference to the horse named. A plausible letter is sent with the voucher, and the victim is informed that on account of early investments made by the firm, the extra odds can be laid by them, and a remittance to the amount named, or part of it, is requested. Of course, the firm “dries up" when claims be

come heavy (Hotten). Fore coach wheel (popular), half

a-crown. Foreman (tailors), a “sleeve

cutting foreman" is a cutter's trimmer. “Near the foreman, near the door," a cutter's term, meaning the farther you work

from the foreman the better for

you. Foreman of the jury (common),

said of a talkative man who will persist in talking to the exclu

sion of others. Foreman on the job (popular),

a leader, master, director, or “boss." Ah, my wife's foreman on the job and no mistake, and what can I do? Nice thing for a free-born Briton, ain't it?Song: I'll never go home any more. Fork (thieves), a pickpocket; from

forks, fingers. Forkers (nautical), those who re

side in seaports for the sake of stealing dockyard stores, or buying them, knowing them to be

stolen. Forking (tailors), hurrying over

the work as if doing it with a pitchfork. Anglo-Saxon, fork

erren, to cut or slash through. Fork on, to (American University).

To fork on to anything is to appropriate it to one's personal use and benefit. Forks (popular and thieves), the

fingers. In French argot, fourchettes. In thieves' language forks is more specially applied to the fore and middle fingers used for picking a pocket. Formerly the

gallows. Fork, to (common), to pay.

"His fee was a tenner. Fork." Master forked.-Sporting Times.

Also fork out.

"Tip up!... fork out,” said the boy. -Greenwood: The Little Ragamuffins.

(Thieves), to fork, to pick a pocket by extracting an article with two fingers only. In French

argot, vol à la fourchette. Forloper (South Africa), a man

who walks in front of a team of

oxen, acting as a guide. Form (racing), an expression sig

nifying a horse's present, past, or presumed capabilities ; thus, “really in form” means that he is just now at his best ; “out of form," that he is not as good as usual ; “ lost his form," that he is more or less on the wane; “ will show better form," that he will improve on his recent performances ; “ topform,” that he is ranked amongst the best of his day. (Common), “good form,” “ bad form” refer to behaviour up or not up to a generally accepted standard of good manners or morality.

The height of "bad form" was reached on Thursday, when a loud cheer followed the failure of — to return a service.Pastime. Forts (American Universities).

At some colleges the boarding houses for students are called

forts. Forty-five (cowboys), a revolver. Forty-foot (popular), a short per

son. Forty-guts (popular), a short per

son. Forty-'leven (American), of negro

origin. This phrase signifies indefiniteness.

Nor don't want forty-'leven weeks o'

jawin' an'expoundin' To prove a nigger hez a right to save him, if he's drownin'.

-Biglow Papers. Forty-rod lightning (American),

one of the innumerable names given to whisky - meaning whisky which will kill like a

rifle at forty yards. Fossed (thieves), thrown down

(New York Slang Dictionary). Fossick, to (Australian gold

miners). Fossicking or "pocket mining," the searching for those scattered accumulations of gold which seem to have been washed into eddies in the early history of the earth.-Standard.

Also in the old digging days fossicking was getting a living by extracting what little gold there was from the refuse washdirt which previous miners had abandoned. So called from fossicking, taking trouble, it being tiresome work (Halliwell). Fossicker (Australian gold

miners), an alluvial mining explorer. Also a miner who works at holes abandoned by others. To this region must one come to see the fossicker in all his miserable state. Travelling in pairs, but usually working separately, the true gambusino of the North is found. Each boils his separate billy, and provides his frugal fare ; each pitches his solitary tent; each works when and how disposed; each roams the ravincs adjacent in search of some hidden store ; and only when an abundance of water and cradling dirt convenient points out the mutual benefit, do the two combine and share the joint proceeds. Inducement for such a life is hard to find. Every pound of food has to be packed from fifty to a hundred miles, change), a password used when a stranger is seen in the "house." “ So help me Got, Mo, who is he?" Instead of replying in a straightforward way. Mo raised his voice as loud as he could, and shouted with might and main, “ Fourteen hundred new fives !" A hun. dred voices repeated the mysterious ex. clamation.-Atkin: House Scraps.

Salt meat is necessarily the sole form in which meat can be provided. Day after day, week after week, the patient fossicker tries creek after creek, gully after gully, ravine after ravine, with the same result, the monotonous "colour," or worse still, the occasional presence of a coarse speck encouraging the delusion of better things. -The Queenslander.

Fossicking about, ferreting about.

Vide To Fossick.

Foul - weather Jack (nautical),

a person whose presence on board ship is supposed to bring

18 ill luck. Found on demerit (American

cadet), having more than the limit (100) (0. E. Wood, U.S.

Army). Found on math (American cadet),

to do badly at mathematicsobviously a corruption of “to

founder." Four eyes (popular), a silly term

for a person who wears an eye

glass or spectacles. Four-holed middlings (Win.

chester College), walking shoes

of an ordinary kind. Four seams and a bit of soap

(tailors), a quaint phrase for

trouser-making. Fourteen hundred (Stock Ex

Fourth (Cambridge), the W.C.;

to “keep a fourth,” to go to the W.C. Supposed to allude to the fourth court at Trinity, a small quadrangle devoted to lecturerooms and other conveniences. (Common), a very drunken man

is said to be “ on his fourth." Fourth estate, the complete body

of journalists of all descriptions. This term is much used among

“ liners ” (Hotten). Four-wheeler (popular), a steak. Fowlo (pidgin), a fowl. Fox (fencing), a cant term for

sword in the older schools, from the "wolf" or fox mark borne by Solingen blades. The word “foxing,” in the colloquial sense of pretending, is often applied to a sham carelessness in fencing, intended to induce the adversary to "come

out” less cautiously. Foxed (old slang), intoxicated.

(Printers), said of stained or spotted books or paper. Caused

by dampness mostly. Fox, to (theatrical), to criticise

a fellow actor's performance. (Popular), to follow or to watch slily. We had several altercations. He was foxing me, and I was foxing him.—Daily Telegraph. Fo- yok (pidgin), gunpowder;

literally fire physic, fire medi

cine. F.P. (War Office), former papers ;

a regular phrase at the War

from gaffle, to chatter, or are allied to gab or gag (which see).

Gaff (American), a steel spur

fixed to the “heel" of a gamecock for fighting. From gaff, a barbed iron or large fishinghook.

Gaffing is tossing, pitching, or throwing like a juggler performing. The gaf is a ring worn on the forefinger of the dealer. It has a sharp point (hence probably the name), on the inner side, and the gambler when dealing from a two-card box can deal out the card he chooses. Some, however, are smart enough to do this trick without the yaff. It is out of date.

(Popular), a gaff or penny yaff, a low place of entertainment. This term is now used for any theatre or music-hall, as the Greenwich gaff. This appears to be allied to gag (which see), or from gafile, to chatter.

Two or three times a week I used to go to the Brit. in Hoxton, or the gaff in Shoreditch.-Horsley : Jottings from Jail.

(Theatrical), to gaff, to perform in low theatres. (Prison), a gaff, a pretence, imposture. In French slang gaffe has the meaning of joke, deceit. (Popular and thieves), “to blow the gaf,” to divulge a secret.

One of them rushes to Smith, and de. mands, "Have you been ordering some sewing-machines ?".

“Yes; is the gaff blown?" was the rejoinder.

“We have had a telegram to surround the station.”—Evening News.

Gaff, in the sense of imposture, and blow the gaff, seem to be

Gaffer (athletes), he who trains

and "owns” primarily a Sheffield handicap runner-now he who does the same to any “ped" or

pedestrian. Gag (theatrical), an actor's or

singer's interpolation in the text of a play.

The chorister boys in a western cathedral have been getting into trouble for what in theatrical strollers is called gaggingsinging things that are not in the programme.-- James Payn, in Ilustrated London News.

Many a play has been saved from utter ruin by the self-possession of the actor or actress, who, finding himself or herself face to face with failure, has emitted some bright line, some apposite repartee, which in one moment has converted defeat into victory.

On its first production, the comedy of “The Jealous Wife" hung fire in the last scene, and was nearly going through altogether, until the quick-witted Mrs. Clive improvised a grotesque fainting fit, which evoked roar upon roar of laughter, put the audience into a thoroughly good humour, gave Garrick time to recover himself, and ultimately ensured a triumphant success.

Similarly Frederick Lemaitre, by sheer force of genius, combined with unique and unrivalled effrontery, at a moment's notice

converteda melodramatic ruffian into the incarnation of comedy, and created the character of Robert Macaire.

Paul Bedford's “I believe you, my boy," has travelled all over the globe. Chinamen and Japanese have quoted it, to prove their knowledge of the English language. Two of the most memorable gags of which we have any record, occurred in moments of inspiration to Macready.

The famous line at the end of the fourth act of “Richelieu"

“Oh! for one hour of youth!" only leaped to his lips, amidst the tumult and excitement of the scene on the night of the first representation of the play at Covent Garden.

Similarly, on the first night of “ Werner," at Bristol, in an agony of paternal anguish, he rushed down to Gabor, and in a piercing voice demanded : “ Are you a father?” Then he whispered : “ Say Nol" Gabor, taken off his guard, roared “No!” But Macready rose above him with a wail of grief, which thrilled the heart of every auditor, as he exclaimed: “Then you cannot feel for misery like mine!" At these words, the pit rose at him.

Probably one of the best remembered, and one of the happiest interpolations, took place at Covent Garden on the occasion of T. P. Cooke (the original William) taking his farewell of

the stage. Having described the killing of the shark, the veteran proceeded to say-"We hauled him on deck; we cut him open. And what do you think we found in him?” The usual reply is, “Why, his innards, of course." On this occasion, genial Johnny Toole, who played Gnatbrain, replied: “I don't know what you found in him, but I know what you didn't find in him. You didn't find another T. P. Cooke.” This gag brought down the house. Like everything else, gag is subject to the general law of “the survival of the fittest,” all that is bright and appropriate abides, all that is vul. gar and inappropriate is swept away by the stern stage manager.

To gag, to interpolate. Gag is old for jaw, palate. Thus to gay is synonymous with “to jaw," but it is possibly allied to the old French gogue (whence goguenard), a joke, from the Celtic goguca, to deceive, deride; and this derivation seems to be supported by the signification attributed to gag in English thieves' cant, i.e., a lie, and to

hoax. Gage (old cant), a quart pot;

from gauge, a measure. Written also gage. I bowse no lage, but a whole gage of this I bowse to you. – Brome: Jovial Crew. Gage or gager, a man. Also

cager. Gager is in all probability the gypsy word gorgio,

meaning any man not a gypsy. Two centuries ago the English gypsies pronounced gorgio, "gago” (gah'dzho), as their brethren still do all over Europe. (Popular), a gage, a small quantity of anything. “Gage,” says Hotten, “was in the last century

a chamber utensil.” Gagger (theatrical), one who

"gags." Vide GAG. Actors were

formerly termed gaggers. Gags or gatherings (Winchester

College), a name given to notes which the different parts of school used to write on the work they had done in the week. Lamb used the word for pieces of mutton fat that make one

retch or choke. Gait (American thieves), manner

of making a living, profession,

calling. Galaney or galeny (old cant), a

fowl. From the Italian gallina, now used in the West of England in the sense of guinea-fowl. A gally-bird in Sussex is a wood

pecker. Galee (Anglo-Indian), slang for

bad language. Hindu gali. In English gypsy gooler or gäller is a noise or tumult, and căller a talking or clatter of words.

“He has the gall to do anything." Dumley—“He asked me to drink with him; but he'll never repeat the impudence." Brown-“What did you do, pull his nose?" Dumley-"No. I ordered a champagne cocktail, and it cost him 75 cents." —New York Sun. Gallanty-show (common), an ex

hibition in which black figures are shown on a white sheet to accompany dialogues. Generally given at night by “Punch and Judy "men (Hotten). From the Italian galanti, fine, often ap

plied to small shows. Gallery stroke (sporting), a stroke

for effect; unlike “playing for the gallery," which has an almost forgotten theatrical origin. A gallery stroke is derived from the fact of so many games being witnessed from galleries. (Cricketers), a high hit up into the air to take the fancy of the

spectators. Galley slaves (printers), vide

COMPS. Compositors are termed thus from the fact that their earnings, especially in newg. paper offices, depend on the number of gallies done. A man to have a good “poll” must slave hard to set up a large number of gallies. Moxon, 1683,

quotes this term. Galley-stoker (nautical), a lazy

skulker. Galley west (American). Though

it indicates an opposite direction, galley west means the same as “about east," being a strong superlative, as expressive of greatness or magnitude.

I have seen the Escurial and the Vatican, and the Dolme-Bagtche, and Windsor Castle, and lots of those little dug-outs over there, but I'll be darned if this establishment of yours, Hunse, don't knock any one of them galley zvest !-galley west, sir, that's what it does.-F. Francis : Saddle and Moccasin. Gallied (Australian popular),

frightened. Gallimaufry (nautical), a kind

of stew made up of scraps of various kinds. Probably mean

ing the galley scraps (Hotten). Gallinippers (West Indian), a

facetious name given by the negroes to a very large and pertinacious kind of mosquito. Without a smile Quashie will tender information to the effect that they are the grandfathers of their species — veterans in practice and cunning. The origin of the word is obscure, except, perhaps, the “nipping"

part of it. Gallipot (popular), an apothecary,

otherwise a “clyster pipe."

It's Vidler the apothecary. ... You said you had gallipots enough.--Thackeray : The Newcomes. Gallivant, to (common), to dance

attendance upon women, to play the gallant. Gallivant is a corruption of gallant, the process being the same as in Samivel from Samuel. Also to roam about for pleasure, The Italians have stare a galla, to float about, be joyous and buoyant.

A nice thing, indeed all the company waiting and drumming their heels, while a brat like you was gallivanting about.-R. Suns : The Ring o' Beils.

or “figuring " about. A form of “gallivant." Oh, Mary had a little lamb, regarding

whose cuticular The fluff exterior was white and kinked

in each particular, On all occasions when the lass was seen

perambulating This little quadruped likewise was there a-gallivating -Tit-Bits: The Original Draft

of an Ancient Chestnut MS. Gallon of rum among one (Ame

rican), a saying attributed to an Indian, who, on being remon. strated with for his great intemperance on a certain occasion, replied: "What's a gallon of rum among one?” Also applied to a millionaire of grand ideas, who though single refused to take a very large villa because it was too small. “ Fine enoughwhat's a gallon of rum anong one?" murmured the would-be seller. Galloper (army), an aide-de-camp.

He is continually "on the move," or “ on the rack," as Canadians

say. Gallows or gallus (common), a

vulgar word for “very," in use in America and also in England until it was almost superseded by “awful,” and “dreadful.” I'm hard up for capital-in short, ... I am gallorus hard up for capital.--). Greenwood : Dick Temple.

In England this was originally applied to any person orthing extremely bad, "bad enough," says Hotten, “to deserve hanging." In the United States only its

extreme or superlative character Game (sporting), “ to play the has been preserved. The French game” is to do a thing thoroughly slang has potence, i.e., gallows (old or properly. Also, lame ; from English), to signify a rascally Welsh cam, Irish gam, lame. person of either sex, an abbre The chair . . . broke down with the viation of "gibier de potence,” publisher. Warrington burst out laughor gallows-bird.

ing, and said that Bacon had got the game

chair.—Thackeray : Pendennis. Galluptious (popular), delightful. (Nautical), a game-leg, a lame

limb, but not so bad as to unfit Gallus. Vide GALLOWS.

for duty (Admiral Smyth). Gallj slopes (old cant), breeches; Gameness (common), spirit, abbreviated from“galligaskins,”

pluck, endurance. An almost trousers first worn by the Gallic

recognised word. Gascons, according to Wright.

Whatever else you might think of Blake, Gallv varn (nautical), a hoaxing there was no doubt about his gameness.story. A sailor expresses dis

T. Hughes : Tom Brown at Oxford. belief by saying only g. y. Game pullet (common), a very (Hotten).

young prostitute, or a girl who Gal nymphs (Winchester College),

by levity and forwardness is

almost certain to become one. a semi-poetical name for housemaids.

Gamey (popular), brave, plucky. Galoot, nautical), an awkward

“You'll be shot, I see.” “Well," cried

Mr. Bailey, “wot if I am ; there's somesoldier, a sobriquet for a young

thing gamey in it."-Dickens : Martin marine. In its early English

Chuzzlewit. use it seems to be “ an infam

And then again we had the ring, ous person,” and derived from

Of which our poets used to sing ; the Italian galeotto, a galley

In those days 'twas a gamey thing, slave. Its meaning as a raw

Eh? Rather! marine seems to indicate this.

-C. H. Ross : The Husband's Boat. Applied in America very gene Gammon and patter (thieves), a rally as an abusive term, often meeting. without any special meaning

Gammon the twelve, to (Austra“Yaas!" he cried, striking the bar with his fist, “ I've killed twenty-seven men up

lian convicts' slang), to deceive on the Kansas border, and ther first galoot the jury. thet looks cross-eyed at me'll be my meat!" A man who has been tried by a criminal -Detroit Free Press.

court and by a plausible defence has in(Also American), a scamp, a

duced the jury to acquit him, or to banish

the capital part of the charge and so to rowdy.

save his life, is said by his associates to

have “gammoned the twelve in prime Gamb (thieves), a leg ; from the

twig," alluding to the number of jurymen. Italian gamba.

-Vaur's Memoirs.

374

Gammy-Gape-seed.

Gan (old cant), mouth.

This bowse is better than rom-bowse,
It sets the gan a giggling.

-Brome : Jovial Crew. This is very old slang, but still in use in America. From the Italian ganascia, jaw, a jawbone.

Gammy (theatrical), old, ugly,

passée. From the Gaelic gam, lame, crooked, or bad. (Tramps), bad, unfavourable, forged, as in “ gammy stuff,” bad stuff ; “ gammy monniker,” a forged signature; "gammy people," people who are hostile to the tramps. Hotten says that the hieroglyphic used by beggars or cadgers to intimate to those of the tribe coming after that things are not very favourable, is known by oor gammy. A gammy-vial (ville) is a town where the police interfere with

tramps or hawkers. Gamp (society), a common term

for a monthly nurse. Derived from Sarah Gamp in “Martin Chuzzlewit," a monthly nurse famous for her gouty umbrella and perpetual reference to Mrs. Harris, a purely imaginary person, whose opinions always confirmed her own. (Common), an umbrella.

But I seriously declare that that wet day when I found myself stranded and desolate in an out-of-the-way village, if five shillings would have bought me the rustiest, most stump-worn and lettuce-shaped gamp, I would have paid down the money with delight.--). Greenwood : Tag, Rag, Sus Co. Gamy, foul, putrid. From a kit

chen expression, as gamy venison, that is, like high game.

I wish, for the sake of Mr. Stickle's pigeons, that I could give a favourable account of that loft ; but truth forbids. It was filthy in the extreme; and I no longer wondered how Club Row became possessed of its gamy atmosphere. -- ). Green. wood: Undercurrents of London Life.

Gander, a married man. A very

old English term, but still in use
in America, where a gander (also
a "stag”) party means agather-
ing of men only. Gander-month
in England is the time during a
wife's confinement, so called, in
Hotten's opinion, from the free
range which the husband has at
that time among the “geese."
It may be remarked in this con-
nection that geese or gheeze in
Dutch slang means a young
girl, any girl; also a lady of
pleasure. It is very probable
that there is an undercurrent
of meaning in reference to
these slang words in the nursery
rhyme:-
“Goosey, Goosey Gander,
Whither dost thou wander?
Up stairs, down stairs,

In my lady's chamber."
Gandy month (common). Vide

GANDER-MONTH under Gan.
DER.

Gaoler's coach (old slang), a

hurdle on which at one time it was customary to convey criminals to the place of execution.

Gape-seed (common), something

to look at, cause for astonishment; a lazy fellow unmindful

of his work is said to be looking

for gape-seed (Hotten). Gapes (popular), fit of yawning.

Another hour of music was to give delight or the gapes, as real or affected taste for it prevailed.--Miss Austen : Per suasion. Gapped (old slang), getting the

worst of it. From old hunting slang. I will never meet at hard-edge with her; if I did ... I should be confoundedly gapped.-Richardson : Grandison. Garden (London), for tradesmen

and others, Covent Garden Market; for actors, Covent Garden Theatre. (Thieves), to "put one in the garden," to cheat a confederate out of his

share. Gardener (popular), an awkward

coachman. “Get on, gardener," is a most insulting expression from a cabby to a real coachman (Hotten). The allusion is to families who employ the

gardener as coachman. Gargle (common), a drink. The

term was first used by medical
students.
A hasty introduction and a diplomatic

slope
On the part of the ingenious Mr. B.,
And the gay and gallant Green was,

single-handed, left to cope
With the siren who dispensed the

L.S.D.
But her taste for high-priced gargles

could in no wise be restrained,
She appeared to look on oof as so much

Garnish (old slang), a fee exacted

by the keepers of gaols from the prisoners for extra comforts, real or imaginary. In Yorkshire

this term means footing money. Garret (common), the head, or

upper storey. To have one's
garret unfurnished is to be a
fool.
As Blagg rolled over them, and they

rolled over Blagg,
While what's called the "claret" flew
over the garret.

-Ingoldsby Legends. Garreter (thieves), a thief who

gets on the roofs of houses and effects an entrance by a garret

window. Garrison hack (army), a young

lady brought up in a garrison town, and who, according to the definition of an officer, “knows all the officers by their

Christian names.” Garrotting (cardsharpers), cheat.

ing by concealing certain cards at the back of the neck (Hotten).

The allusion is obvious. Garters (nautical), the irons or

bilboes. Gas (common), boastful talk,

bounce. “The Frog he would a-wooing go" is

excellently done, By Mr. Henry Gascoigne, at the merry

“Marry-bun;" In wishing him success of it, we one and

all may join, He has so little gas, he ought to take a lot of “coigne."

-Fun. To gas is to bounce or brag; to give gas, to scold or give a

dirt,

And he very soon discovered all the

assets that remained Were a card-case and a ticket for a shirt.

-Sporting Times.

beating. (Popular), "none of your old gas," do not brag, none of your nonsense. Gas in old French (from Latin gaudere), signifies a joke, mockery; but there is apparently no connec

tion. Gas bag (common), a man of

words and wind, a gasconader. “ To gas” and “gassing," as used in America, are the equivalents of the French blaguer and

blague, German gasebalg. Gas pipes (printers), bad rollers. Gassy (common), liable to "flare

up”at any offence. (American), talkative, bouncing, full of wind. According to Kluge (Etymologisches Worterbreck der Deutschen Sprache) the word “gas " was invented by Van Helmont, the

alchymist, who died in 1744. Gate-bill (Oxford University), a

list of the names and time of coming in of those who return

to College after ten at night. Gate-race (sporting), a mock race

got up not so much for the best runner to win, as for the money taken from the spectators (Hot

ten). Gater (Winchester College), a leap

head first into a “pot” or canal

lock. Gate, to (University), to punish a

student by restricting his freedom of going outside the College gate.

The Dean gave him a book of Virgil to write out, and gated him for a fortnight

after hall.-T. Hughes ; Tom Brown at Oxford. Gathering the taxes (tailors),

calling at workshops when on

the road. Gating. Vide GATE. Gats (Shrewsbury school), quan

tity, number.

They are called up in gats of three at
a time.- Everyday Life in our Public
Schools.
Gatter (popular), porter.

Lots of gatter, quo' she, are flowing,
Lend me a lift in the family way.

--William Maginn.
It has been suggested that
the term is from a play on
“ gater,” meaning gate-keeper
and porter; or from "gutter,”
the conduit from which the

beer flows in public-houses. Gaudy (Oxford University and

Inns of Court), grand feast, from gaudium. Also the annual dinner of the fellows of a college in memory of founders and benefactors.

Gawfs (costermongers), cheapred

skinned apples.

Gawney (provincial), common

among the lower orders. It means a sawney or half-witted

person. Gawpus (nautical), a stupid, idle

fellow; a “gawcum" is a provincialism with the same signi

fication. Gay (common), loose, dissipated;

a “gay woman" or "gay girl,”

Gee-gee dodge (commercial), selling horse-flesh as animal food.

The employés I interviewed were encouraged to speak plainlyand without reserve ; and unknown one to the other, they all agreed in the assurance that to their knowledge the gee.gee dodge, as they called it, was seldom or ever practised by their masters-the main safeguard for the public being that it was impossible to bargain with any one for a regular supply:-). Greenwood : l'eiled Mysteries.

a prostitute. “All gay,” vide

ALL GAY. Gay tyke boy (popular), a dog

fancier (Hotten). G. B. (American), an abbreviation

of “grand bounce," i.e., a rejection, dismissal, or being turned out or disinherited. My dad and I Have had a round-about, and he has dis Sis-sis-inherited me; and I have Been given the G. B. on your account, My be-be-beautiful!

-A Californian Romance. G. C. of C., the (American). The

Glorious Climate of California, and the Intellect of Boston, are such stock phrases in the United States, that academical writers have suggested the expediency of reducing them, like Anno Domini, to initials. If the “glorious climate of California” is responsible for the exceedingly hopeful prospects of Rocklin's futurecensus reports, and the said lively outlook, materialised, is responsible for my mishap, then plainly the said G. C. of C. is the responsible element in the case. — Thomas Stevens : Around the World on a Bicycle. Geebung (native word adopted

by the settlers), an Australian wild-fruit.

Geekie (Scottish thieves), police.

office. Connor next asked her where it was, to which she replied, “Ben the geekie." He did not understand this at the time, but from the light which he afterwards got he knew it to mean the police-office.-Police News.

Geezer (popular), wife, old woman.

Dutch slang, geeze or geese, a girl,
a mistress, vide GANDER. Also
a man derisively.
He'd Airt and boat, but never wrote
A note to his old geezer.
-). F. Mitchell: Jimmy Johnson's

Holiday

Gee or gee-gee (common), a

horse. From gee or gee up, to turn to the off side. “I'm sick of seconds," said the Tealeaf, shutting up his book with a bang, after backing five gee.gees in succession, who had occupied this unenviable position. -Bird of Freedom..

(Popular), it won't gee, it will not do. From a provincialisın.

Geneva print (nautical), gin.

And if you meet
An officer preaching of sobriety,
Unless he read it in Geneva print,
Lay him by the heels.

-Massinger. Gent (popular), a contraction of

gentleman, generally applied to
a dressy fellow. Originated
about 1847 from tailors' adver-
tisements. The gent was the
'Arry of that time.
Last summer to Brighton invited,

My friends, on a visit I went,
And while on the sands promenading

I met with a handsome young gent.

378

Gent-Georgetown.

His figure was that of Adonis,

His eyes they were really divine,
And oh ! how my heart beat with rapture
When he turned and his eyes they met

mine.
-Harry Hartley: Writing his Name

on the Sands. (Old cant), money; from argent. Gentleman commoner (Oxford

University), a student who pays higher fees and dines with the fellows of the college. At Cam. bridge the phrase is a “ fellow commoner."

and similar games being generally played upon tables covered

with green baize. Gentle, to (American, Western),

to tame horses after the halter breaking, or rough breaking in is accomplished.

That's so. I ain't got a colt at all in the corrals to gentle now.-F. Francis : Saddle and Moccasin,

Gentry cove (canting), a gentle.

man.

The gentry cove will be romboyled by his dam. Queer cuffin will be the word yet if we don't tout. — Beaconsfield: Venetia.

Gentleman of three outs (popular),

without money, without sense,

without manners. Gentleman's companion (thieves),

a louse.

Gentlemen (nautical), the messmates of the gunroom or cockpit

-as mates, midshipmen, clerks, and cadets (Admiral Smyth).

Gentlemen of observation (turf),

an euphemism for “touts."

An equally strong force of the "touting" fraternity, and the sight of a battalion of these gentlemen of observation, as they are more politely called, under the trees of the “Limekilns," is one of the most interesting sights of our morning's walk at a meeting. -Bird o' Freedom.

Gentry, flash (thieves), swell
thieves.
Oh, if my hands adhere to cash,
My gloves are at least clean,
And rarely have the gentry flash
In sprucer clothes been seen.

--Lytton: Paul Clifford. Gentry mort (old cant), a lady. Genuine, to (Winchester College),

to praise. Geordie (nautical), a north country

collier. George Horne (printers), a com

monexclamation among printers to a person who tells some old story as if it were new. Also abbreviated sometimes to G. H. Vide STEREO. This exclamation owes its origin to a certain Mr. George Horne, a typographer, who was in the habit of retail

ing stale news. Georgetown Yelper, the (Ameri

can), name of a mythical or imaginary newspaper invented

Gentlemen of the green baize

road (gaming), plunderers at the card table, sharpers (Dickens' “Bleak House”); based upon the familiar phrase, “knights of the road,” i.e., highwaymen; hence gentlemen of the green baize road is equivalent to cheating gamblers, or sharpers-cards, dice,

by an editor when he wishes to publish original matter as

as borrowed. The name is only given in illustration, any other may be substituted.

Office boy to editor, respectfully—“Fore. man says we need half a column more of editorial."

Editor_“Tell him to take that article we had on Blaine's speech day before yes. terday, beginning, “The following scathing review of Jim Blaine's late abortive effort from the Jonesburg Terror is so illustrative of our views that we,' &c., and run it in again, with the name of the Georgetown Yelper inserted in place of the other paper. Georgic (Eton), to order a boy

to do a georgic was a favourite punishment with irate Eton masters. It consisted in writ. ing out about 800 lines of Latin, an operation which took at least three hours for the fastest writers.

Then he pulled himself together, dashed into the house and upstairs, where he found Palmer Budd, a fellow of infinite jest and some daring, "staying out," stutteringly demanded if he were the culprit, received an affirmative, inflicted a georgic, and then sought for his footman. -Sketchy Memories of Eton. German duck (popular), sheep's

head stewed with onions.

factories of germans, “collared head," and “spiced beef,” chiefly for supplying shops situated in the poorest and most denseiy populated neighbourhoods-as far as I can make out there is at present no danger that our feline pets will go hungry because of the wholesale conversion of their favourite food into sausages.-J. Greenwood: Veiled Mysteries. Gerry (old cant). C. J. R. Turner

translates this as excrement, and derives it from the Latin gerræ, trifles, stuff, nonsense. It also occurs in cant as jeer, in which case it is simply the gypsy jeer, jir, the rectum, also excrement, though fül is the common word for the latter. Where it occurs as iere, Mr. Turner derives it from the Gaelic inneir, dung, which is hardly so

close as jeer. Gerry gan (old cant), hold your

tongue. Vide GERRY and GAN. Gerry gan, the ruffian clye thee.

-Harman: Caveat. Gerund - grinder (common), a

schoolmaster. Get against the game, to (Ame

rican), a term borrowed from poker, but in general use to

signify taking risks in anything. Get a grind on any one, to

(American), to have a joke on a man, to play a trick, or to have “a good story" to tell against him, it being a popular belief that anything which annoys, pains, or vexes a person

is “smart," or witty. Get a hat, to (cricketers), to bowl

three wickets in three consecutive balls; originally one was

German ducks (popular), bugs;

otherwise knows as B flats, in

opposition to F sharps, i.e., fleas. German flutes (rhyming slang), a

pair of boots. Germans (common), sausages.

I am glad to be able to state thathaving spent several half hours in the company of as many separate witnesses, all of them employed at different manu.

380

Get.

supposed to be presented with a new cocked hat when he had achieved the feat.

crimination against American pork possibly have never heard a graduate of an American young ladies' boarding school mangling French. The revenge is terrible.

-American Newspaper. Get off a keen, to (American

cadet), to make a witty remark.

Get a set on, to (Australian popu.

lar), to have a spite against. This is a variation of the English “to make a dead-set against."

Get at, to (racing), to put hors-de

combat, to corrupt. “Getting at” meant originally getting access to a horse to injure it, but it has also been transferred to those connected with the horse, the owner, the trainer, the jockey, the veterinary surgeon. Applied to them it meant the same as “get round,” or “square," i.e., to corrupt into not running the horse fairly. From this it has been applied to any kind of corruption. For instance rabid Tories have accused Mr. Gladstone of having been got at by the Irish Americans.

“You see, sir," he explained, “there are no end of loafing vagabonds about that 'ere Yering; who knows but what some of 'em might take it into their heads to get at him."-A. C. Grant. Get away (American), a loco

motive, called in English popular slang a “puffer." Also a railway train.

Get one cold, to (American), to

have a man at advantage, to “best him," to “have him dead to rights." To pin a man down, or to catch him. To get one

foul (MS. Americanisms). Get-penny (old slang), a paying

speculation. It occurs in Kirk. man's “ Wits or Sports upon

Sports” (1673). Get set, to (cricket), to begin to

play well, when the batsman is

“getting his eye in." Get, give the mitten, to (Ameri.

can Universities), to be expelled, to expel from college.

(Popular), to be discarded or jilted, to discard, jilt.

There is a young lady I have set my heart on; though whether she is a goin' to give me hers, or give me the mitten, I ain't quite satisfied.-Sam Slick: Human Nature.

Get back into your box! (Ameri.

can), be quiet, silence! Get behind a man, to (common),

to indorse a man's bill. Get even with, to (common), to

revenge one's self.

Those who think this country fails to get even with France for her unjust dis.

Get the needle, to (cards), to lose

much money at a game. (Com. mon), to get angry. To give the

needle, to make angry. And fancy my slang heing stale, Charlie !

Gives me the needle, that do. In course I've been in it for years, mate,

and mix up the old and the new : But if the St. James's young gentleman

fancies hisself on this lay, I'll "slang" him for glasses all round, him whose patter fust fails 'im to pay.

-Punch,

Get there, to (American), to suc.

ceed. A characteristic American expression very freely used in conversation. “The speculation book's rather smoky—but I'll get there," means that though the venture is unpromising at present it will prove profitable in the end.

Get there with both feet, to

(West American), to be very successful.

He said as he'd been gambling, and was two hundred dollars ahead of the town. He got there with both feet at starting, and was eight hundred ahead once, but he played it off at monte.-F. Francis : Saddle and Moccasin. Get the run, to (English and Aus.

tralian), to be discharged.

Get the sack or bag, to(common),

to be discharged. As the “bagman" is the traveller of the firm, very possibly to get the bag means to be sent on one's travels. Cf. "get the sack,” “get the run.” Compare also German “einen korb behommen,"toget a basket, to be dismissed. , “Do you know to whom you are talk. ing?" replied the Governor. “No, and I am - if I care," came the answer; and it took all the illustrious personage's powers of persuasion to get the man to take him across. The ferryman now knows who his passenger was. He has got the sack.Modern Society.

A simile borrowed from the negroes, who in fighting attack the head and pull the hair. Chicago traders are getting into Philadelphia's wool in fine style. - Chicago Tribune. Getting on (turf), backing a horse

for any particular race. The term usually implies a more or

less hurried operation. Getting out (racing), laying

against a horse previously backed. This is almost invari. ably done in haste, though per. haps not more often repented of at leisure than are most

speculations. Getting the length of his foot

(popular), knowing what is pre

ferred, and acting accordingly. Getting your flannels. Vide

FLANNELS. Getting your hand on him

(tailors), not trusting him, sus

picious. Get, to (American), to depart

hastily. It is generally in the form “you get !” i.e., “begone." There is also an expression, “you bet ! ” meaning that you may bet on it, or be sure of the matter in question.

One night Bill heard a noise. It was a burglar who had clamberated the grapevine arbour, and was just going to entrance the window. Bill he grabbed his gun and drew a bead on the burg, saying, “You get!” The burg looked up, and seeing the iron, replied, “ You bet," and retreated.

-The Tale of Bill Shuter. Get-up (common), dress, pure and

simple, or dress with marked

Getting an encore (tailors), hav.

ing to rectify something wrong

with your job. Getting into his wool, wooling

him (American), beating a man, assaulting him violently

intention in, or mode of dressing. To get up well is to be perfectly dressed.

The Empress of Austria never went out hunting without her fan, the only thing that seemed strange to English eyes in a very perfect costume and get-up.--The World.

The way in which he received my civil application was complimentary at least to my get-up. In evident agitation and alarm he informed me that he did not want anything to say to me. --J. Greenwood : Tag, Rag, & Co.

Get up and dust (American), arise

and depart; the idea being that a man or a horse raises a dust as he goes on the road. While dusting the furniture a Bangor serving.maid sell out of a second-storey window. She then placidly arose and dusted herself.- Detroit Free Press. Get up one's Injun, to (Ameri.

can). When a man feels his temper rising with a certain amount of determined ferocity he is said to feel the Indian rising in him.

(of European prisoners) to cele. brate particular days, when the funds permitted, with the luxury of plantain fritters (fried bananas), a draught of sherbet, and a convivial song. On one occasion the old Scotch ballad .My wife has ta’en the gee' was admirably sung and loudly encored. It was reported to the Kelledar (commander of the fort) that the prisoners said and sung through all the night of nothing but ghee. The Kelledar, certain that discoveries had been made regarding his malversations in that article of garrison stores, determined to conciliate their secrecy by causing an abundant supply of this unaccustomed luxury to be nenceforth placed within the reach of their farthing purchases" (Wilkes' Historical Sketches, Anglo-Indiản Glos

sary). Ghost-racket (American), any

event or narrative into which the spiritual or ghostly element enters. The most novel ghost-racket on record has just been worked by a Jersey detective in a vain attempt to scare an ignorant German into confessing that he was a murderer.–Chicago Tribune.

We have had the tallest ghost-racket here in our town that you ever did audit. --Washington (Pa.) Eagle. Ghost walking (theatrical), a term

originally applied by an impecunious stroller in a sharing company to the operation of “ holding the treasury," or paying the salaries, which has

Ghastly (society), the commonest

emphatic word of the day, sig.

nifying bad, awful. Ghaut (Anglo-Indian), a landing

place, or path of descent to a
river.
The country-people call this place the

ghaut,
And from its foot-hills scanty breath

there be.

--Burton : Translation of Camoens. Ghee (Anglo-Indian), boiled but.

ter; used in cooking through all India.

“In most of the prisons of Hyder Ali it was the custom

Ghost-Gideon's band.

383

become a stock facetiæ amongst all kinds and descriptions of actors. Instead of inquiring whether the treasury is open, they usually say — " Has the ghost walked ?” or “What! has this thing appeared again ?” (Shakspeare). A new play called “The Skeleton" has been produced at a Vaudeville matinée. It isn't likely to be in much esteem with the actors, owing to a natural deficiency of "fat,” although, on the other hand, it may certainly be expected to offer a favourable opportunity for the ghost to walk.---Funny Folks.

(Commercial), in large firms, when the clerk whose duty it is goes round the various departments paying wages, it is common to say the ghost walks.

Ghoulish glee (American), an ex

pression first used by President Cleveland, which immediately became a popular catch-word. It may be observed that in the following paragraph there is a slang expression in every sen. tence.

Some newspaper with ghoulish glee re. marks that the President undertook to pull down his Vest, but that Vest pulled him down. It is certain that he squatted. He bounced Benton for making partizan speeches, and was scared into putting him back into office. It is the completest backdown known to the White House. Chicago Tribune. G. I. (printers), “general indul

gence," i.e., a birthday, holiday treat, and is also the festive occasion when an apprentice “ comes of his time,” an event signalised by much noise, and usually followed by bread and cheese and beer. Sometimes the words “great independence” are attributed to these letters on such an occasion, specially referring to the independence gained by the ap

prentice. Gib (prison and army), slang for

Gibraltar, to which transportation ceased in 1875. (Nautical), a forelock.

Ghouls (American), prying and

spying reporters for newspapers who chronicle the meanest gossip of private life. The term originated in the “ghoulish glee” of President Cleveland. The word ghoul is a great favourite with American newspaper writers, and is used in every grammatical form, as to ghoul, ghouler, ghoulest, and ghoulette, a female ghoul, especially a blackmail-levying prostitute.

The ghouls also reported that Mrs. Folsom, in the absence of Mrs. Cleveland, had licked Hector (the President's dog) for being too fresh and promiscuous. ... The ghouls who haunt Mr. Cleveland are not confined to the Republican press. Far from it. A ghoul of the Washington Post reported that the sex of Hector had been misunderstood, and his (her) real sex just discovered. - New York World.

Gib face (popular), a heavy, ugly

face. To “hang one's gib," to pout the lower lip. Gib is properly the lower lip of a horse,

or a bump or swelling. Gideon's band (American), a slang

term for good-fellowship, association, union for carousing, &c.

384

Gideon's band-Gin.

to strike one in the face. Also a high or large shirt collar.

The term comes from a negro minstrel song, the air and some of the words of which were originally of a camp-meeting or Methodist hymn. Oh, keep your hat upon your head, For you may need it when you're dead; Oh, keep your shoes upon your feet, That you may walk the golden street. Ch. If you belong to Gideon's band, Oh, here's my heart and here's my

hand,

We're hunting for a home. Oh, keep your trousers on your legs, That you may hang 'em on the golden

pegs; "Twixt you and me, I really think It's pretty near time to take a drink,

If you belong to Gideon's band.

Gilt (popular), money ; from the

German geld, Dutch gelt. Guelte,
in French shopmen's assistants'
slang, is the percentage allowed
them on the sale. Shakspeare
has punned on the word gilt.

Have for the gilt of France,
O guilt indeed!

-Henry v. (Thieves), a crowbar.

Gift-house (printers), a house of

call. Compositors have their “gifts” also, or clubs-a limited number of members being admitted only, and their objects being to find employment or to provide for non-employment in the shape of a provident allowance.

Gilt-edged (American), as the best

note-paper was once always giltedged, the term passed to the Stock Exchange to denote the paper or promissory notes of the first class, on which there could be no risk. Hence the expression became general for anything superlative.

"A man is an infernal fool to play poker anywhere," said a well-known sport and politician to a Tribune reporter the other evening; “but he is a gilt-edged idiot to play the game in a card-room or anywhere else where Tom, Dick, and Harry may take a hand."-Chicago Tri. bune.

Gig (popular), a farthing, the

nose. Gigger (tailors), sewing-machine;

from “to gig,” to make a noise.

Gilt-tick (costermonger), money

as represented by gold coins.

Gig-lamps (common), spectacles.

A person who wears spectacles is sometimes called gig-lamps. He had chosen his friend Verdant to be his prompter; so that the well-known gig. lamps of our hero forined, as it were, a very focus of attraction.-C. Bede: Ver. dant Green

Gimcrack (provincial), a handy man, a universal mechanic or Jack of all trades. In this sense common in Northamptonshire. (Popular), a spruce person.

Gimlet-eved (common), with very

small eyes.

Gills (popular), the jaws, the face;

to give a “bang in the gills,"

Gin (Australian), the wife of an

Australian native.

Her face was covered with tears and woe, and her little fist aided her apron in dabbing more sorrow from her eyes. “O teacher, teacher,” she sobbed, “Maudie's calling me names. Maudie (a sob) called me (another sob) a ginger-snap, boo-hoo!" -American Newspaper,

Gingham (common), an umbrella.

He was one of the great unpaid and selfelected flock of hypocrites yclept evangelists, and, with a gingham in one hand and a bundle of tracts in the other, he entered a third-class compartment.-Bird o Free. dom.

An Australian settler's wife bestows on some poor slaving gin a cast-off French bonnet.-C. Kingsley: Two Years Ago. Gin and Gospel Gazette (jour

nalistic), T'he Morning Advertiser. So called from the fact of its having for a long period, in the early days of its existence, devoted a portion of its space to the announcements of its particular clientèle, and another to advertisements of works on theology, and notices of preachers at

London churches and chapels. Ginger (theatrical), an idiom de

rived from the vocabulary of
the stables. If an actor plays a
part tamely, or ineffectively, it
is a common phrase to say “he
wants ginger.” (Popular), a man
with red, yellow, or yellow.
brownish-red hair.
The man that I loved was as fair as

could be,
The man that I married's a sort of a

ginger, The man that I loved paid attention to me, The man that I married my feelings doth

injure. -1. C. Lewis: The Man I Loved

and the Man I Married. A ginger, a showy, fast horse. From a well-known practice of horse-dealers.

Gingle-boys (old), coin.

We thank our fates, the sign of the gingle-boys hangs at the door of our pockets. - Massinger: Virgin Martyr. Ginning it up (American), “work

ing things up,” working hard and energetically at anything.

The Apaches were out to beat hell-at least that was the tune we were all talking to about that time. And they were ginning her up, and making things a bit lively, that's a fact.-F. Francis : Saddle and Moccasin.

The origin is from working at a cotton gin. Gin penny (costermongers), the

extra profit charged to provide the “glass of something short”

before going home. Gin spinner, a distiller or rectifier

of gin (Hotten). Gip (thieves), a thief, abbreviated

from gypsy. Gippies (journalistic), explained

by quotation.

Colonel Kitchener will probably stick to his original intention of having only gip. pies (as they call the Egyptian soldiers here) at Suakim.-The World.

Gingerbread (thieves), money.

Your old dad had the gingerbread. Ainsworth : Rookwood. Ginger-snap (American), a hot

tempered person, particularly one with yellowish or gingercoloured hair. A ginger-snap is also a very hard ginger biscuit.

it was limited to inadvertent betrayal. It is now vaguely used in several senses.

Give, to (common), used in a slangy

sense in the phrase "to give it one,” to scold, to thrash. “I'll give it you ;” in French, “Je vais t'en donner;" Italian, “To vi lo daro.” (American), to give is extensively used to form active verbs of extremely varied forms. “ To give on the make,” to be clever at profiting. “ To give on praying,” to excel in prayer. With certain persons it is used as frequently as "fix."

Give a weight, to (street), to

help a person in lifting a heavy weight.

Give away, to (American), to

inadvertently betray or injure one's self. The man who through forgetfulness or maladroitness “lets out”' that he himself has been guilty of something which he had previously condemned

Give best, to (popular), to leave,

leave off. to yield.

But after a time I gave him best (left him) because he used to want to bite my ear (borrow) too often.-Horsley : Jottings from jail.

To give best means originally to acknowledge, and thus passes easily to mean the natural corol. lary of a confession of inferiority, relinquishing or submitting. Also used in Australia. Accordingly after publication on Friday (it was a bi-weekly paper, the defunct Pleasant Creek Chronicle) we "rushed in" our “dis. " and gave the case-room best on Saturday morning.-Thos. L. Work: Australian Printer's Keepsake.

ously. Also to communicate a thing or to violate confidence. It is said of a Yankee damsel in a university town that she once expressed great horror at the conduct of certain girls with the students. “I was going," she said, “ by the College early the other morning, when I saw a great basket being let down with a young lady in it.” Here the tale was interrupted, and when it was resumed the fair narrator forgetfully added -“Oh, yes! wasn't it awful? just when about ten feet from the ground the rope brokeand down I came!” “There you gave yours:lf away,” remarked a hearer. The expression cameinto common use about 1868. In its original meaning

Give 'em Jessie, a party war-cry

widely current in the Presidential Campaign of 1856. Fremont, the Republican candidate, had fifteen years before made a runaway match with Jessie, daughter of Thomas H. Benton, and the popular favour with which runaway matches are apt to be regarded was made much of in this case, the lady's name being freely used in song and story by her husband's political supporters. It was, however, in common use a century before Jessie Fremont was born. It is probably an allusion to the " rod of Jesse" in the Old Testament.

Manager, and very often by the Walking Gent, if he is young and a favourite with the fair sex.

Giving you a hoist (tailors), doing

you a bad turn. Glasgow magistrate, a salt her

ring. When George IV. visited Scotland a wag placed some salt herrings on the iron guard of the carriage belonging to a well-known Glasgow magistrate, who made one of a deputation to receive his Majesty (Hotten).

Give him a chance for his white

alley (American), let him have a last chance for, a forlorn hope, a fluke, give the man one more trial. A figure borrowed from

the boys' game of marbles. Give it a bone (common), "stop

it,” or “ that's stale.” The metaphor is, of course, that of giving a dog a bone to stop his

noise. Give it mouth (popular), speak

up. In Italian, “ dar la bocca." Give it to (old cant), to rob; “I

gave it to him for his reader," I

stole his pocket-book. Give sky-high, to (Australian and

popular), to blow up, to scold in the most immoderate fashion. The metaphor is from “blow ing up”-sometimes simply " to

sky-high" is used. Give the collar, to (American), to

seize, arrest, to “collar.” “The charge is drunkenness." “Yes, I suppose so, but here is the case : I left home at eight o'clock in the evening to buy a pork chop for breakfast. I buy my chop and am going home in a peaceful manner, when a policeman comes up and gives me the collar."-Detroit Free Press. Give the word, to (theatrical), to

prompt. Give us a rub of your thumb

(tailors), show me how you do it. Giving out (theatrical), announc

ing in front of the curtain the performances for the following evening-generally done by the Juvenile Man, sometimes the

Glass (thieves), an hour.
Glass work (cardsharpers), ex-

plained by quotation.
“What on earth is glass work?”

“The use of a convex mirror about the size of a small coin. It is fastened with shellac to the lower corner of the left palm, opposite the thumb, and reflects the cards as dealt. Gamblers generally made them by buying those little silvered glass globes used for children's Christmas trees and breaking out a piece. Sometimes the mirrors were set in half-crowns and laid carelessly on the table, but that is all gone by now, and to-day a man must be able to take a square pack of cards and do all his work without apparatus."-Star.

Glaze (popular), glass; "to star

the glaze," to break a window pane. Glaze for glass is old

gypsy. Glaziers (thieves), the eyes.

(Anglo-Norman), glas, bright or

blue, allied to glass. Toure out with your glaziers, I swear by

the ruffin That we are assaulted by a queer cuffin.

- Brome : A Jovial Crew. 1.e., “Look out with all your eyes, I swear by the devil a magistrate is coming."

These coachmen are such privileged beings that they play practical jokes on even high and distinguished globe-trotters. Ben Halliday's upon Horace Greeley, the eccentric editor of the New York Tribune and once candidate for the Presidency of the United States, has gone the rounds of the English world's press.-H. L. Wil. liams: In the Wild West.

Glib (popular), tongue; “slacken

your glib." Glib gabbet (nautical), smooth

and ready of speech. Vide GAB. Glim (popular and thieves), an

eye. Harold escaped with the loss of a glim. - Ingoliisby Legends.

A light or candle. “Don't make such a row," said Sikes, bolting the door. “Show a glim, Toby." -Charles Dickens : Oliver Twist.

“Douse the glim,” blow the candle out. (Nautical), glims, spectacles. (Common), the glim, gonorrhea.

Glope, to (Winchester College),

to spit. Glorious (popular), intoxicated. Glory-Hole (popular), the hall for

worship used by members of the Salvation Army. So called originally from a cellar or underground place of meeting in Brighton.

These hoary-headed buffers,

And devil-dodging duffers,
At the Glory-Hole in Teddy Street they

rave.
Young women and young girls

They denude-of all their curls,
When they get them in their den or

rather cave. - Broadside: The Brighton Glorg.

Hole.

Glimflashy (popular), angry.

Don't be glimflashy; why, you'd cry beef on a blater.-Lytton : Pelham. Glim lurk (begging-letter writers),

a begging petition giving an account of a fire in which some relative of the impostor is said to have perished or been injured. A common dodge, by which the writer of this was once "taken in."

Glimmering morte (old cant), a

woman who solicited alms under the pretence that she had lost

all her property by fire. Globe rangers (nautical), a sobri

quet for the Royal Marines.

Gloves (racing), “going for the

gloves,” betting with utter dis-
regard to means of payment.
The maxim laid down by Mon-
trose that
“He either fears his fate too much,

Or his deserts are small,
Who fears to put it to the touch,

To win or lose it all,"

Globes (American), a woman's

breasts.

may embody a sound policy in love affairs, but is not to be commended to the turf specu. lator. When the piquets were up it was a man's own fault if he was welshed. Among the established men who bet at the lists there

Globe-trotters (common), travel

lers who have gone round the world.

Glove trick—GO.

389

was seldom a welsher, or any one going for the gloves, and this was the great thing to be said in favour of the lists that are now gone for ever.-Sporting Times.

the face assumes under em.

barrassing circumstances. Glue-pot (old cant), a clergy

man, because he joined men and women in the bonds of matri. mony, glued or cemented them

together. Glumpish (popular), sulky.

Glove trick (American thieves),

a variety of what is known in Paris as the “vol à l'Américaine,” or the taking in a dishonest person in such a way as to make the “victim" think he is cheating the one who is the master-thief.

“The success of this game is dependent on the latent dishonesty of the victims. The properties consist of a handsome kid glove and a cheap ring with a stone in it. The ring is stuck in a finger of the glove soas to be most conspicuous, and the two are dropped at the feet of a woman as she is walking in the street. 'I beg your pardon,' the “crook” exclaims, you've dropped your glove!' The woman would look at it, per ceive that there was a ring in it, and if she were dishonest would claim it. Then the crook would demur. 'Maybe the glove did not belong to the ladyand now he noticed it, there was a ring in it!' The woman, five times out of ten-for the thief reads faces easily-would say, 'I'm sure it's mine-but here is something for yourself,' and would give him five dollars for what she believed was a valuable solitaire” (Philadelphia Press).

Glutton (pugilistic), a hard fighter,

one who never seems to have

had enough fighting. Go (general), impetus, energy,

spirit, vigour, strength of purpose, a proceeding. This ori. ginally slang word bas established itself in the language by dint of general usefulness and expressiveness. Its vulgar offshoot “go it" is not likely to be equally successful.

Still, when we get to Victoria, though the air of intense energy and go has vanished, there is something that appeals more strongly to the English mind. Phillipps-Wolley: Trottings of a Tenderfoot.

The strange costumes, the bold riding, the actors so picturesque, the go and action so vigorous, all combine to make the brilliant show one of the most exciting that Londoners have ever seen. -- Bailey's Monthly Magazine.

" A rum go," a strange affair; “a great go," a remarkable or important affair; “all the go," much in vogue; “no go,” impossible ; "a pretty go,” a trouble, unfortunate circumstance, scrape,

(Turf), an owner or jockey are equally said to be having or not having a go, according to their supposed intentions with regard

Glow (tailors), ashamed; derived

doubtless from the warm“ tint "

to a race. The horse, though If you're always dropping chestnuts, implicated in the transaction

Like the forest in the Fall,

Even though they are the best nuts, only as a more or less passive in

You had better hire a hall! strument, is also thus spoken of. Oh, go and hire a hall ! (Popular), a go, a drink;termed

It would please us one and all, formerly a go-down.

You can splatter at your leisure,

If you go and hire a hall! So they went on talking politics, puffing -C. Leland Harrison : MS. Collec. cigars, and sipping whisky and water, until

tion of Americanisms-Negro the goes, most appropriately so called, were

Minstrel Ballad. both gone. -Sketches by Boz.

Go-ashores (nautical), a seaman's (Thieves), “to go the jump," best dress. to enter a house by the window.

Go as you please (athletes), a Go abroad, to (popular and race in which the competitors

thieves), formerly signified to may run, walk, or rest as they be transported.

like. Usually applied to the The Artful Dodger going abroad for a

barbarous six days' “wobbles." common twopenny-halfpenny sneeze-box!

Goatee (American), the peculiar -Charles Dickens : Oliver Twist.

kind of tuft of hair on the chin Goads (American), Peter Funks worn by Americans and Irish

(which see). “Coppers" in Yankees. So called from its gambling houses.

similarity to a goat's beard. In

French slang bouc, i.e., he-goat. Go along (popular and thieves),

a fool, also “ go alonger." . Goater (American), dress. Go and bust yourself (roughs). Gob (popular), a provincialism, equivalent to "you be blowed;"

but chiefly used by slangy peralso "go and eat coke.”

sons, the mouth; a “ spank on

the gob," a blow on the mouth. “Go and bust yerself-go and eat

Saliva or mucus. Gob is often coke!" A hero has spoken. ...

used for “gab" in the phrase, - Sporting Times. “ gift of the gob.” From the

Gaelic gob, mouth. Go and hire a hall (American),

a common expression which is Go back upon, to (American), a very characteristic of a people very curious phrase, equivalent as familiar with lectures and to betray in an unexpected manpublic discussions as the Ame ner, but which has a certain rericans. It is addressed to a bore finement of application which is who talks a long time, or always difficult to describe. In most on some special subject. Such cases it intimates that the bepeople who insist on delivering trayer has been a trusted friend, impromptu lectures are told to and that ingratitude forms a go and hire a hall.

part of the description. In the

“ Breitmann Ballads” we are
told of a candidate who had lost
the entire vote of a small town
in which he confided,
“ 'Twas long ere he tid know

Vot make dis rural fillage

Go pack oopon him so." Gobble (American), to gobble up

or devour is a well-known English word. In the United States gobbling is often specially applied to the purchase of smaller or rival railroads, insurance companies, &c., by wealthier or shrewder rivals. Thus when the Pennsylvania Railroad Company failed in its effort to purchase the Northern, Central, and other roads, it was announced by the newspapers that “ It can't gobble its competitor."

(Yale University), to seize, to lay hold of, to collar. At Cambridge, however, “to gobble Greek,” means to speak or study that language. “You may have seen him traversing the grass. plots ·gobbling Greek' to him.

“The Brit.," where specialities we every

Christmas see, Turns out a feast of local fun, entitled,

King Trickee; And Mrs. Lane can cater well for pittite,

box, or god, A Lane without a turning in the path she's always trod.

-Fun. Invariably the most sympathetic and enthusiastic, and not infrequently the most intelligent portion of the audience. Formerly, in many of the important country theatres, the verdict of the gallery on the first night decided the success or failure of the season. “Up amongst the gods,” the upper gallery, termed by the French paradis, or poulailler.

(Printers), the nine quadrats used in “ jeffing” (which see) were thus called. Perhaps from the fact that the player would be invoking the god of fortune, &c., in his behalf.

(Eton), one of the sixth form. A god at Eton is probably in a more exalted position, and receives more reverence than will ever afterwards fall to his lot.-Pascoe : Everyday Life in our Pub. lic Schools.

self.”

Gobbler (popular), a turkey.cock.

In Scottish slang the bird is called a “búbbly-jock.” Harman, in his “ Caveat,” gives gob

Bler, a duck. Gob-stick (nautical), a horn or

wooden spoon. Vide GOB. Go by Walker's bus, to (com.

mon), to go on foot. God (common). The gallery peo

ple, who sit enthroned in high Olympus, are called gods.

God bless the Duke of Argyle

(popular), much used by tailors. This expression is often used by a man when he rubs his back against a post or projection, for the purpose of allaying the itching sensation in the small of his back, where his fingers cannot reach. It is said that one of the Dukes of Argyle caused posts to be erected in certain parts of his domain, so

Gods (tailors), block patterns, or

patterns stored and prized by those unable to produce patterns

themselves. Gods of cloth (tailors), classical

tailors.

Go it (popular), once perfectly

good English, but now a slang mode of expression used as a term of encouragement, as for example in Artemus Ward's “ Go it, my gay and festive cuss ;” or, “Go it, you cripples, Newgate's on fire." I met the other day our mutual friend

aw-Henry Irving, Linked arm-in-arm with Tennyson the

poet; And Randy walked behind, his grand mous

tache with pleasure curving; Kilrain was urging all of them to go it.

-Topical Times.

Go-easter (American), cow-boy

slang. A go, a valise, so called because the cow-boy seldom owns such an object till he buys one to go to a city, which is generally eastwards (C. Leland Harrison).

To go it, to act with energy, spirit, fearlessly. In the quotation it is used in a disparaging sense.

The second offender, who has been going it with him, being a much smaller youth, is much more scared.— The Graphic. Go it blind (common), a phrase meaning to act without due thought or deliberation. Ed. wards says: " It is derived from the game of poker, where a player may, if he chooses, go it blind, by doubling the 'ante' before looking at his cards, and if the other players refuse to see his blind' he wins the

.ante.'” Go it, boots! go it, rags! I'll hold

your bonnet! glang! (American), cries of encouragement to a man on foot or on horseback, “ doing time." In England there is also the well-known “Go it, ye cripples, wooden legs

are cheap!” Goldbacked 'uns (popular), body

lice. Gold bug (American) a million

aire.

To her enduring honour be it said, the only country where gold bugs have not been permitted to dictate such legislation that their talent in the napkin may be hocussed in the sight of all men up to the value of two talents, is the great Republic across the Atlantic. - Pall Mall Gazette. Goldfinches (popular), sovereigns.

Two canaries equal one goldfinch-who so possesseth needeth never to pine for lack of notes.--Punch. Gold-finder (old), a cleaner of

privies or jakes, a night-man.

A gold.finder or jakes farmer.- Urguhart's Translation of Rabelais. Golgotha (Cambridge University),

literally the place of a skull, "but,” says the Westminster Review, “a particular part of the University Church is appropri. ated to the heads' of the houses, and is called golgotha therefrom, a name which the appearance of its occupants renders peculiarly fitting, independent of the pun.” It also

signifies a hat. Goll (games), the hand; derived

from the Keltic. Hence golf,

hand-ball. Gollop, to (common), to swallow

greedily; a corruption of“gulp.” Golly, by golly (American), a

common interjection. It is very doubtful whether it is used euphemistically for God. Nor is it strictly true, as Bartlett says, that it is chiefly to be heard among negroes, since it is quite as common among boys in New England or in the West. Formerly used in the form “by goly" in England. Why then, by goly, I will tell you! I hate you, and I can't abide you.-Fielding : An Old Man taught Wisdom. G.O.M. (general), i.e., grand old

man, a nickname of Mr. W. E. Gladstone. It was first used by Mr. Bradlaugh in a speech at Northampton. Since then it has become exceedingly popular, being used derisively by the right honourable gentleman's political opponents, and respect.

gone for by the body critical. And in spite of its ultra-extravagance and strained fun, it makes the people laugh.-Bird o' Freedom.

fully, though familiarly, by those
who look upon him as a leader.
It is now used facetiously in
reference to any one.
Each guest has p'raps already guessed

the gentleman I mean,
For all these qualities unite in but one

man, I ween: I sing that real G.O.M.-the chairman

of our greenWho here this evening may be seen pre. siding o'er this scene.

-St. Helen's Lantern. Gomers (Winchester College), an

abbreviation of “go homers," the clothes college “men” wear when going home instead of gowns. In the old days "gomers and hats" was a “peal ” similar to “boots and leathers."

Gomer means also a pewter dish. Gone (American), but also used

in England to signify loss, ruin,
or total injury. “Gone up" and
" gone down" are in this mean-
ing synonymous. One may also
hear that it or he is a “gone
case," a "gone goose," a "gone
coon," "gone bird,” or “a goner.”
“ It is all gone-day with him”.
is also a common idiom, mean-
ing that his day or time is
lost or over. A “goner” also
naturally refers to anything or
anybody who has escaped or
died.

I knew, in the language of the States, that I was a gone coon. - Moonshine. Gone for (theatrical), criticised,

run down. Borrowed from the Americans.

The “Circassian," at the Criterion, is drawing better houses than might have been expected, seeing how the piece was

Gone off one's chump (popular),
crazy.
I'm frantic-still I wander about,

I am ncarly gone off my chump,
My wife, my wife, my cruel wife,
For me don't care a dump.

-Song Gone on (society), in love. Also

“sweet on,” “mashed on."
The swells who go there for their lunch

every day,
Are gone on the duchess-at least so they

say, But I fancy they'd be in a very bad way, If they knew for my dinner I've nothing to-day.

-Song. Goner (popular), a dying person.

They had some conversation, which resulted in their going to the Three Arrows public-house, where he drugged him. “I gave him more than I intended, ard when I saw he was a goner, I put him in the cab and got away."-Daily Telegraph.

Also a bankrupt person, or any one who has "gone wrong." Gone to grass, dead. Vide GO TO

GRASS. Gone up (American), lost, ruined,

bankrupt. Goney (American), a stupid,

foolish fellow. “How the goney swallowed it all, didn't he," said Mr. Slick with great glee. Sam Slick in England. Gonoph or gonnof (popular), a

young fool or lout. I am obliged to take him into custody; he's as obstinate a young gonoph as I know, he won't move on.- Dickens : Bleak House.

Grandmother—Grass.

401

“to go to grass,” to fall sprawl. ing. ... That he had further eased his mind by executing a free-hand drawing of himself as a boxer ... engaged in having a “set-to" with M. Sterling ... who was going to grass in the most igno. minious manner.-). Greenwood : Dick Temple.

live must grow naturally from needs and be developed by

use. Grandmother, to see one's (com

mon), to have a nightmare. Granger (American), the member

of a political party formed about
1875 in the interests of the West-
ern grain-growing States, or of
the agriculturists. The word
is now generally used to mean
a countryman, a rustic, or “a
gentleman from the rural dis-
tricts."
Now this person was a stranger
From the West ; a rural granger
Sure that nobody could do him,
And no city chap get through him.
Nothing to him could be dearer
Than to meet a bunko steerer.
He was with impatience hopping
To find a fellow wallet-dropping,
And he pined, this pine woods jonty,
To encounter three-card monté.

-How they did the Buck-Eye. Grape - vine telegraph (Ameri

can). During the war exciting accounts of battles not fought and of victories not won were said to have been conveyed by grape-vine (or clothes-line) telegraph (New York Slang Dictionary), but the term was in earlier use, meaning news con

veyed in a mysterious manner. Grarler (American thieves), a

small dog who by barking alarms the family. “Grarlers are more feared by burglars

than guns or pistols." Grass (common), " to go to grass,"

to die; “go to grass,” be off, you be hanged. (Pugilistic),

(Royal Military Academy), vegetables.

(American), fresh mint or tansy leaves, used in making juleps.

(Australian printers), temporary hands on a newspaper. The metaphor probably is from the proverb about grass—“The grass withereth,” &c., which would imply temporariness. There is a printers' proverb, “A grass on news waits dead men's shoes.” The Australasian Printers' Keepsake says: “ Those familiar with newspaper work in the colonies must often have heard this gruesome axiom. Now this saying, though evidently figurative, does not present the usual pleasing characteristics which we associate with pastoral subjects, especially when they are contemplated from a proper distance, as becomes the eye artistic. Disagreeable as it may be to acknowledge the fact announced in the above saying, however, so much more so must it be to have it verified in one's own person, be you grass or prospective dead man. Why are the grass or casual news hands not put on a more comfortable foot. 402

Grass-Graveyard.

ing” (Edward Fitzgerald: Printers' Proverbs).

The expression has been im. ported from England, a grass hand in English printers' parlance being a compositor that accepts occasional work in dif

ferent offices. Grass-combers (nautical),

countrymen who enter the ser

vice from farming counties. Grasser (sporting), a fall.

Some have terrible grassers in climbing into the pigskin.-Flyers of the Hunt. Grasshopper (popular), a waiter

at a tea-garden (Hotten). Grass in his liquor. See GRASS. Grass-ville (thieves), the country. Grass-widow. In America and

in India a grass-widow is a married woman temporarily separated from her husband. In the Slang Dictionary of Hotten it is explained as “an unmarried mother, a deserted mistress,” which is rather doubtful. Low German, gras-wedewe. Also stroh-wittwer (German).

Gravel-rash (popular), a scratched

face, generally applied to a drunken person who has had a fall. (Schoolboys), the injury

to the knees from a fall. Grave-trap, the (theatrical), a

large oblong trap in the centre of the stage, so called because "the fair Ophelia” is supposed to be buried there. Every fugitive draught in the theatre rises from the cellar through this opening. It is said that Fawcett, when stage-manager at Covent Garden, relinquished the part of the gravedigger (which he had acted a quarter of a century) in favour of a younger actor, against whom he had a spite. “You are very generous, Mr. Fawcett,” gushed the youngster. “Not at all, sir-not at all,” replied the veteran. Then turning to a crony, with a grin, he growled in a grim aside: “That infernal north-east wind from

the grave will cook his goose.” Graveyard (American), a “ pri

vate graveyard,” men who affect great ferocity, or who assume to be desperadoes, sometimes boast in America that they keep graveyards of their own in which to bury their victims, or else are sarcastically asked where these cemeteries are. In portions of New England every farmer has his own family graveyard on his property, and the writer has known an instance in which a father made a present—which was gladly accepted – to his children of a little graveyard

Gravel, to (popular), to confound,

to perplex, to bewilder. From levelling with the earth or gravel.

Gravel-crusher (military), a sol

dier compelled to tramp about

a square at defaulter's drill. Gravel-grinder (popular), one sub

ject to falls through drunken habits.

Gravy—Great.

403

with two blank tombstones. They kept it in order and used it as a playground.

bard with the knuckles. (Naval), an engineer, or any other man

employed in the stoke-room. Greasers (Royal Military Aca

demy), fried potatoes, in contradistinction to “boilers,” boiled

potatoes. , Greater or final (Oxford Univer.

sity), the final public examination in honours. Greater is now properly confined to classical honours.

Gravy eye (popular), a term rather

loosely and unmeaningly ap-
plied as a derisive epithet -
“Oh! you gravy eye! How much
gravy does your mother put on

your 'taters'?” Gray (sharpers), from the gypsy

gry, a horse, a halfpenny with either two “heads” or two “ tails,” used for cheating at pitch and toss. Also called a

pony, hence the word. Gray-coat parson, a lay impro

priator, or lessee of great tithes

(Hotten). Grays (popular), lice ; called by

the French grenadiers. Grease (printers), a synonym for

well-paid work. Grease one's duke, to (thieves),

to grease the palm or hand, “ duke" meaning hand. One or two days after this I met the reeler at Hackney, and he said, “What made you guy?" So I said that I did not want my pals to see me with him. So he said it was all right. Some of the mob knew him and had greased his duke.Horsley : Jottings from Jail. Greaser (American), a Mexican.

A Chinaman stole swiftly and silently by; a half-breed led a lame horse along; a couple more greasers, seated one behind the other, went past on another equine scarecrow. – P. Francis : Saddle and Moccasin.

(Winchester College),“to give him greaser,” to rub the head

Great go (Cambridge University),

the final and most important examination an undergraduate has to pass. An earlier examination is called the “ little go." Read through the whole five volumes folio, Latin, previous to his going up for his great go.-The Etonian. Great pot (racing), a prophet.

I enclose a little circular sent to me in the spring of the present year, sent me by a great pot (he would have you believe), addressing from the Strand, London, whose selections, had I followed, would break a bank, much less a private purse. -Bird o' Freedom. Great Scott! (American and

common), probably derived from General Winfield Scott, once a candidate for the Presidency, a man of such great dignity and military style that he was popularly known as Fuss and Feathers. To explain the following extract from an American newspaper in which the word occurs, it must be understood that the Republicans in the United States insist that all the roughs, shoulder-hitters, and gamblers

in the country are “Democrats.” “Where are you going to-day?” asked a man of a Democratic sheriff, “and why is court adjourned ?” “Why, great Scott !” exclaimed that offi. cial, “don't you know there is going to be a prize-fight to-day in the next county?” The phrase has been acclimatised in Eng. land by the Sporting Times :How gaily they glitter, and glisten, and

glow, As they shine in their sovereign

sway, And see how they sparkle-Great Scott!

here's a go! Great smoke (thieves), London.

The Cockneys, from the great smoke, seldom fraternised with the "hardware blokes" from Birmingham Liverpool criminals were almost entirely of Irish origin.--Evening News. Great sun! (American), a mild

oath, probably only a variation of “great Scott."

But something came up-up like a fountain, up like the bubbling over of the airth's eternal teapot; a black muddy jet of stuff. Great sun! I think I see it now. -The Golden Butterfly. Grecian bend (society), peculiar

bend given to the body by means of a large bustle and bigh-heeled boots. The term is by no means new. It was used in the “Etonian" more than half a century back. “In person he was of the common size, with something of the Grecian bend, contracted doubtless from seden. tary babits."

people did not understand, was either called gibberish or Greek, Thus the slang of the beggars, tramps, vagabonds, gypsies, and thieves was known to the outside multitude as St. Giles's Greek, or pedlar's Greek. In “As You Like It," when Amiens sings“Under the greenwood tree,

Who loves to lie with me," he is asked what the mysterious syllables “duc da me” signify, and gives the explanation that it is a Greek invocation to call fools into a circle. “Duc da me” is generally explained as Latin intentionally corrupted (or by a misprint) from duca ad me.

Greek. Any language, dialect, or

form of speech that the common

Greenbacks (University), one of

Todhunter's mathematical textbooks, because some of them are bound in green cloth. (Ame

rican), paper money. Green bag (common), a lawyer.

“What's in the green bag ?" i.e., what is the charge to be preferred against me?

Green turtle, to live up to (Ameri.

can), to do, and give one's best -a metaphorical phrase which owes its origin to turtle being regarded from the epicure's point of view a bonne bouche, and the green fat the most desirable portion.

It were churlish indeed to find fault with any custom, or to dwell critically upon any shortcoming of these hospit. able people, who, as hosts, live up to their green turtle. - Paton : Down the Islands.

Green goods operators (Ame

rican), the counterfeiters of greenbacks.

The article referred to also contained an exposé of the methods, headquarters, and gangs who have so long and with so much impunity carried on the green goods or sawdust operators. It also gave the names of sawdust operators who had been arrested and indicted in the Federal courts but never brought to trial.-New York Mercury.

Greenwich barbers (popular), re

tailers of sand, so called because the inhabitants of Greenwich “shave the pits" in the neighbourhood to supply London with sand (Dr. Brewer),

Greenhouse (drivers), a derisive

term sometimes applied to an omnibus. “Get out of the way with that old greenhouse of

Greenwich goose (popular), for

merly a pensioner of the Green. wich Naval Hospital.

yours!”

Greenland (common). “He comes

from Greenland,” he is unsophis. ticated.

A new pal . . . where did he come from? Greenland.-Dickens : Oliver Twist.

Greeze (Westminster School), a

crowd. Possibly from grease, alluding to the appearance of crowd of low people.

Few whose names have ever stood on that paper will forget how they pressed through the surrounding greese. -Everyday Life in our Public Schools. Gregorines (common), live stock

in the hair. From the Italian.

Greenman (builders), a contrac

tor who speculates with other people's money.

Greens (printers), a term in vogue

for bad or worn-out printing

rollers. Green, to (Eton School), to befool,

to cause any one to show simplicity.

Grid (theatrical), a contraction of

gridiron—the large open woodwork structure built over the flies, extending over the whole stage, so called because it is

(Army), formerly a young subaltern in the Indian service.

Pig-sticking is pretty, very pretty I may say, if you have two or three of the right sort with you ; all the grifhns ought to hunt together though.-H. Kingsley: Geoffrey Hamlin.

(Anglo-Chinese), a horse fresh from the wilds. Also a person resident in China under three years.

Griffins, the residue of a contract

feast taken away by a contractor, half the buyer's and half the seller's (Dr. Brewer).

constructed exactly like a gridiron. To the grid all the dead lines which bear the scenery are

attached. Griddle, to (street), to be a street

singer. Possibly from Italian

gridare, to cry aloud. Griddler (streets), a street singer.

(Tinkers and tramps), a tinker.

Probably from “gridiron." Gridiron, the (nautical), the Stars

and Stripes of the United States. Also called the “Stars and Bars." (Popular), “the whole gridiron," the whole party. (Common), a gridiron, a County Court summons. Originally a summons to the Court of Westminster only; from the Gridiron Arms. The Grafton Club is always known as the Grid or Gridiron, that instrument being brought into requisition whenever possible in

the cuisine (Hotten). Griffin, griff (Anglo - Indian), a

greenhorn, a fresh comer, a Johnny Newcome, one not as yet “in the ways." The origin of this word is uncertain, but something resembling it is applied in different Latin languages to “outsiders," foreigners, and the excluded or mixed members of society. Thus in Louisiana a grifin or griffe is used, like the French griffon, for a mulatto, or one of mixed dark blood (Bartlett). “I am little better than an unfledged griffin, according to the fashionable phrase here" (Hugh Boyd, 1794).

Grig, to (American), to grig, to

irritate, goad, or vex. Probably from grig, a small fish - spear used for eels (grig, a small eel). Thus to "chivvy," to hunt about, chase, vex, or annoy, is derived from chiv (gypsy), a pointed knife, &c.

That word, superiorist, grigged me. Thinks I, my boy, I'll just take that expression, roll it up into a ball, and shy it at you.-Sam Slick: Human Nature. Grind (university), a long walk.

(Cambridge), the Granchester or Gogmagog Hills Grind. A tedious piece of academical work. A plodding student who keeps aloof from the usual sports and pastimes. The ferry-boats at Chesterton, wound across by a winch and chain, “to go over in the grind." (Schools), to grind, to work hard, to cram for an examination.

Grinder (popular), “to take a

grinder" is to make an insult. ing gesture by applying the left

thumb to the nose, and turning the right hand round it as if in the act of grinding an organ. Also “to take a sight."

Grinders (society), private tutors.

(Popular), the teeth.
This round was but short-after humour-

ing a while, He proceeded to serve an ejectment, in

style, Upon Georgy's front grinders, which

damaged his smile So completely, that bets ran a hundred

to ten That Adonis would ne'er flash his ivory

again. -- Tom Crib's Memorial to Congress.

Grindery (shoemakers), material

for making boots and shoes. Grinding mill (students), pre

paring for an examination. Grind off (common), a miller. Grindstone (common), to keep one

"with his nose to the grindstone,"

to keep him to his work. Gringo (American), a Spanish

word, common in the SouthWest, or at least well known, meaning a flat, new - comer, stranger, an American or a foreigner. It corresponds in

a some respects to the “griffin” of India and China. When you play with a gringo take off that ar' green coat and silver buttons. I seen every hand you held rite in one of those buttons, like looking inter a looking. glass. -Cleveland Sun and Voice.

that they have the appearance

of rows of teeth. Gripes (popular), colic. Gripes hole (Winchester College),

a hole close to the boat-house, thus called because the water

there is very cold. Gripper (popular), a miser, a

curmudgeon. Grit (American and common),

spirit, courage, pluck, endurance, determination. The word is derived from the hardness of the grit of grindstones, millstones, and paving-stones, and other uses to which the most durable sandstone is applied. If he hadn't had the clear grit in him, and showed his teeth and claws, they'd a nullified him so you couldn't have seen a grease spot of him. ---Sam Slick in England.

No grit signifies no pluck, sometimes imitated by “no

sand." Grizzle-pot (popular), a sulky

child, one who is constantly “ grizzling,” i.e., whimpering,

whining. Grizzle, to (common), to cry,

whimper. " What on earth are you grizzling about now?" asked the Talepitcher of Mrs. T., when she came in sobbing the other afternoon. - Bird o' Freedom. Groaners (thieves), funeral and

church thieves. Groats (nautical), an allowance

for each man per mensem, assigned formerly to the chaplain for pay.

Grinning stitches (milliners), said

of sewing slovenly done, where the stitches are so wide apart

Grog (popular), to “have grog on

board,” to be tipsy. Grog-blossoms (common), pim

ples on the face, a consequence of continual hard drinking.

Grog fight (army), a drinking

party. Groggy (common), unsteady like

a drunken man, generally applied to horses when they become weak and unsteady from age and overwork. And as the Pet, moreover, was so battered and bruised, and was altogether so groggy that he was barely able to stand up to be knocked down.-C. Bede: Verdant Green,

Grogham (popular), a sorry horse,

one who is “groggy" or not

firm on his legs. Grog - tub (nautical), a brandy

bottle.

Groper (popular), a blind man,

termed also “ hoodman." Ground, down to the common),

anything that is very acceptable

and thorough. Grounder (nautical), a ship that

is liable to be run aground through bad seamanship. Unfortunately these rejoicings have been marred through the loss of three “mids" belonging to the notorious grounder, Canada, who were capsized and drowned, - Modern Society.

(Cricket), a ball that is de. livered along the ground, a

“sneak” or “grub." Ground hog day (American), a

term very common in the Mid.
dle States, and thus explained
by Bartlett:—"Candlemas, Feb.
ruary 2, is often so called in the
Middle and Western States from
a popular belief that the appear.
ance of the ground hog on that
day predicts a return of cold
weather.” The ground hog (a
kind of marmot) has even shown
himself at times in poetry.
Though the ground hog and crocus creep

into their holes,
It's Spring, and the almanac shows it,
Though a polar wave over the universe

rolls, It's Spring, and we don't care who knows it.

-Robert J. Burdette: Marck. Ground-sweat (thieves), burial.

And as soon as the noose was untied Then at darkey we waked him in clover, And sent him to take a ground sweat.

--Burrowes : The Death of Socrates. Grouser (popular), a grumbler.

No matter how well the indefatigable cooks acquit themselves in trying to ap

Groom (gaming), a croupier. Groovy (society), settled in one's

habits, old-fogyish, limited to certain views. After an absence of fifteen years I have just returned to England. ...I never aspired to being a nabob, or a “chappy," or a “masher" (indeed, I am past the age when attaining to these latter distinctions could be possible); nor did I intend to dissipate my hard-earned and modest fortune as a “plunger." Six weeks ago I was not aware that these terms formed a part of the English tongue; but now . . . I make use of them, lest you should infer from what is coming that I am old-fashioned, prejudiced, or hopelessly groovy. — St. James's Gazette: The Culture of the Misses.

(American), a “sardine."

pease the ravenous wants of the hungry crowd, they very often find it altogether impossible to do anything at all entirely to the satisfaction of a certain class of individuals. ... This select and volatile body of nien is commonly designated by their more sensible and forbearing comrades as the grousers.--Brunlees Patterson: Life in the Ranks. Groute, to (Marlborough and

Cheltenham Colleges), to work bard. Also to go out of an evening. In Yorkshire it is used with the sense of to dig

up with the snout like a hog. Grouty (American), ill-tempered,

cross, vexed, “grumpy.” Groutheaded, stupidly noisy (Sussex). Atter sputin' an' rasslin' roun' considibul, hit wuz fix up dat Bre'r Fox, Bre'r Bar, and Bre'r Buzzard wuz ter run for de offis-an' ter sawter (sort of) pacersy Bre'r Rabbit, who wuz powerful grouty 'bout bein' lef out, dey 'leck him ter hole de ballick-box.-Detroit Free Press. Grove of the Evangelist (com

mon), a name for St. John's

Wood. Growing his feathers (prison),

letting one's hair and beard grow, a privilege accorded to convicts for some months before their discharge, that they may not be noticeable when free.

(American), “to work the
growler," to send out a tin or
a kettle to a saloon for beer.
Considered rather low.
There's Misther Hons Sowser, a fine

German man,
He goes out and brings Lager in an ould

lobsther can, "Tis himsilf works the growler so nate

and so well, For the good of the ladies in the Bummers' Hotel.

-American Broadside Ballad. Grub (popular), food. Vide GRUB

AND BUB.

“I never see such a jolly dog as that," cried Master Bates. “Smelling the grub like a old lady a going to market.” — Dickens : Oliver Twist.

" To grub,” to eat. Also to beg, to solicit alms, especially food. (American universities), a grub is a student who works hard ; to grub, to study hard. (Cricket), a grub, a ball that is delivered along the ground. Specially underhand bowling.

Growler (common), a four-wheeled

cab; so called because a man is supposed to growl and be discontented in one. Compare with “sulky," a kind of gig.

The cab again drew up at the door, and the pseudo Beau Brummell set his dainty foot upor. the step and gaily alighted. A four-wheeled growler had accompanied his own carriage.-Tit Bits.

Grub and bub, victuals and drink.

The two words are of indigenous English origin. Grub is de. rived from the action of digging up roots for edible purposes ; and bub or “bib" from Latin bibere, French biber. “Humming bub" formerly signified sparkling ale, and is frequently mentioned in the convivial days of the eighteenth century. The "grubbing ken," in the language of tramps and mendicants, is the workhouse, and is sometimes used by the lower classes for an eating - house or a cookshop.

410

Grubbery-Grundy.

He refused, and harsh language ensued,

Which ended at length in a duel, When he that was mildest in mood Gave the truculent rascal his gruel.

-Ingoldsby Legends. (Sporting), grue or gruclling, a beating.

Gruelled (popular), exhausted.

Wadham ran up by the side of that first Trinity yesterday, and he said that they were as well gruelled as so many porters before they got to the stile.-C. Kingsley: Alton Locke.

Grubbery (popular), an eating

house. (Thieves and tramps),

the workhouse. Grubbing hall (Winchester), the

hall in which college “men" take their meals. It is opposite “organ room." Each house has

its grubbing hall. Grubby (popular), dirty.

They looked so ugly in their sable hides,
So dark, so dingy, like a grubby lot
Of sooty sweeps or colliers.

-Hood: A Black Job. (Thieves), food. Diminutive of “grub." I paftered in flash like a covey knowing, Ay, bub or grubby, I say. -W. Maginn: Vidoca's Slang

Song. Grub.hunting (beggars), begging

for food. Grub stakes (American). When

miners become so poor that they are not able to furnish the necessary tools and food with which to “go prospecting," a third party of sufficient means offers to furnish tools and provisions on condition that he is to have a certain interest in anything that may be found (Butter.

worth’s “Zig-zag Journeys”). Grub-trap (popular), the mouth.

A variant is "potato-trap." Gruel (common), to “get one's

gruel” is to be well beaten, or killed; to give one his gruel, to beat, or kill,

Your yokel friend, Mr. Softhead-1 know you all, you see-he's got his gruel, I rather fancy: -). Greenwood : Dick Temple.

Grumble-guts (popular), a person

who is always grumbling. Grumbles (popular), to be “all

on the grumbles," to be discon

tented, in a snarling mood. Grumpish (common), ill-tempered,

"grouty;"probably from“grum" or “grim.”

If you blubber or look grumpish, I'll
have you strapped ten times over.-Mrs.
Trollope: Michael Armstrong.
Grundy, Mrs., to be afraid of

(society), to be afraid of the
world's opinion. Mrs. Grundy
was a character in the comedy
of “Speed the Plough."
They eat and drink, and sleep and nod,

And go to church on Sunday,
And many are afraid of God,
And more of Mrs. Grundy.

-Old Ballad. They should go up the Dart and Fal

instead of up the Rhine, And dip, spite Mrs. Grunry's frown, in

truly British brine, In short, they should resolve to see their

native land right through, Before they fly abroad to seek fresh scenes and fevers new.

- Truth.

Baltimore has guess what socials, which are well attended and very popular. The refreshments probably consist of sausage hash and mince pie.

Guiders (popular), reins. This

word seems to have come from the gypsies, who derived it in turn from the Slavonian or Wallachian voidas. An English gypsy, on being asked what he supposed voidas meant, suggested that it was the same as vyders or reins. The French for reins is guides.

Grunter (tailors), an habitual grumbler.

(Old cant), a bumbailiff, a pig. Here's grunter and bleater, with tib-of-the

butt'ry, And margery prates, all dress'd without slutt'ry.

-R. Brome : A Jovial Crew. (Popular), a policeman, termed also a “pig.” Grunting cheat (oid cant), a pig. Gruts (thieves), tea. Guddha (Anglo-Indian), ar ass. "A

donkey, literaland metaphorical. Hindu gadhā. The coincidence of the Scotch 'cuddy,' has been attributed to a loan from Hindi through the gypsies, who were the chief owners of the animal in Scotland, where it is not common. On the other hand this is ascribed to a nickname, Cuddy, for Cuthbert" (AngloIndian Glossary). The only word used at present by gypsies in England for a donkey, is maila

or myla. Guerilla (American thieves), a

name applied by professional gamblers to fellows who “skin suckers” (cheat the ignorant), when and where they can. They do not like the regular gamblers, but try to beat them (i.e., get the better of them), inform on them, and tell the suckers that they have been cheated.

Guinea-hen (old cant), a prostitute. Guinea-pigs (Stock Exchange),

directors of a public company. (Common), special jurymen. Also others whose fee is a guinea, such as doctors, veteri

nary surgeons"Oh, oh," cried Pat, “how my hand itches, Thou guinea-pig, in boots and breeches, To trounce thee well."

-Combe : Dr. Syntax. (Anglo-Indian), a nickname given to midshipmen on board Indiamen in the last century, and still occasionally used.

Guire cove (old cant), a rogue.

Probably a corruption of queer cove.

Guiver (theatrical), flattery, art.

fulness.

Guess what (American), a game.

Also applied humorously to suspicious food, such as sausages.

Gulf (Cambridge), those to whom

the degreewas allowed, although infe.ior to junior optimes, but superior to poll men. Such were formerly disqualified for the classical tripos.

Gulf spin (American cadet), a man

who is without principle of any

kind, a worthless fellow. Gull (common), one who is easily cheated.

The most notorious geck and gull
That e'er invention played on.

-Shakspeare: Twelfth Night. Hotten derives it from “the easy manner in which the bird of that name is deceived." In French slang a "gullible" man is pingouin, a bird more easily deceived than the gull. In Dutch, gull means soft, goodnatured, easy to impose on. “Hy is al te gull," he is far too yielding. From gul, soft. “De weg is gul,” the road is soft and yielding. To gull, to cheat, deceive.

the staple it hung by, and the driver appeal. ing occasionally to some bullock or other by name, following up his admonition by a sweeping cut of his gully-raker, and a report like a musket-shot.-A. C. Grant: Bush-Life in Queensland. Gulph or gulf, to (university), to

disqualify. Vide GULF.

But I'm not going to let them gulph me a second time; though, they ought not to plough a man who's been at Harrow.C. Bede: Verdant Green. Gulsh (provincial), “hold your

gulsh,” be quiet, hold your tongue.

Gull-sharper (nautical), one who

preys upon simple or inexpe

rienced people or "gulls." Gully hole (costers), the throat,

or gullet ; termed also“ red lane," "gutter lane.” (Gypsy),

gullo, the throat. Gully-raker (up-country Austra

lian), a cattle-whip. The metaphor is doubtless that of a man walking down the centre of a gully, and commanding both sides of it with his lash, like a man “covering" the whole net at lawn tennis when he stands close up to volley. As the day wore on they overtook bullock. drays lurching along heavily in the ruts of the road, the little keg of water at the tail. board swinging as if it would wrench out

Gum (University and American),

a trick, deception. “He was speaking of the moon hoax' which gummed so many learned philosophers." Also “ gummation." The author of “A Tour through College " says: “Our reception to college ground was by no means the most hospitable, considering our unac. quaintance with the manners of the place, for, as poor ‘Fresh,' we soon found ourselves subject to all manner of sly tricks and .gummations' from our predecessors the sophs."

(Common), abusive language, chatter.

There's no occasion to bows out so much unnecessary gum . . . you had much better clap a stopper on your tongue. --Smollett: Peregrine Pickle.

To gum, to humbug or deceive. Gum-gum (Anglo-Indian), a kind

of small drum or gong. “We had supposed this word to be an invention of the late Charles Dickens, but it seems to be a

real Indian or Anglo-Indian

word” (Anglo-Indian Glossary). Gummagy (common), to be gum

magy, to be of a snarling, scolding disposition. Dickens has the character of Mrs. Gummage in one of his works, the name of whom he evidently coined from this slang expression in the same way that he gave the surname of “Twist,” i.e., large

appetite, to Oliver. Gummer (popular), explained by

quotation. I was given to understand that the first practice a fighting pup had was with a good old gummer-that is to say, with a dog which had been a good one in his day, but now was old and toothless.J. Greenwood : Low-Life Deeps. Gummie (popular), a simpleton,

a dull-headed fellow. Gummy (popular), a person who

has lost all his teeth and has nothing but gums to “flash,” i.e., to show. (University), to feel gummy, to be in a perspiration. (Thieves), gummy, medi. cine.

There's gumption and gumptious ! Gumption is knowing; but when I say that sum un is gumptious, I mean... sum un who does not think small beer of hisself.-Lytton: My Novel. Gum-smasher (popular), a den

tist.

They were fiances, and proposed to celebrate the occurrence by having a few of her less showy molars uprooted at his expense. When the gum-smasher had got to work he found it was rather a tougher job than he had anticipated. Sporting Times. Gumsucker (Australian popular),

a young Australian “native" (white), so called, it is said, from their habit of eating the gum of the wattle tree, an acacia gum very much resembling, in its astringent qualities and its general appearance, the gum arabic of commerce. Our colonial lads showed their right to the appellation of gumsucker by chewing the transparent lumps that depended from the silver-wattles, one of the prettiest of our indigenous acacias. – T. L. Work: “An Expedition to Hall's Gap," in the " Australian Printer's Keepsake." Gumsuck, to (American), to hum

bug or deceive. Gum-tickler (common), a dentist. Gum-tree (nautical)," he has seen

his last gum-tree,” it is all up

with him. Gun (popular), a thief, an abbre

viation of “gonoph,” which
see.
And this here artful dodger was

A very artful gun,
He sneaked the heart of Rachel and
Once more poor Roger's done.

-T. Browne : False Rachel.

Gump (American), a stupid person.

“You great gump." Gumption (common), capacity,

comprehension, intelligence; rumgumption, great intelligence or capacity. Gaum is a Yorkshire word for comprehension or understanding. Gumption is a recognised word in Lowland Scotch, and not considered to

be slang. Gumptious (common), conceited.

made from the livers of cod or other fish (Bartlett). Rancid oil. In Dutch, goor means spoiled, as goor melk, spoiled or turned milk. The oil is used for coarse work, lubricating wheels, and by tanners.

Gurtsey (American cadet), a stout,

short man, a “fatty." The epithet is generally applied at West Point to the fattest man in a class.

(American), to gun, to make a violent effort, to try hard to produce an effect. “Gunning a stock,'” says Bartlett, “is to use every art to produce a 'break,' when it is known that a certain house is heavily supplied, and would be unable to resist an attack.” As it is a New York word, it may possibly be allied to the Dutch gono, which means a violent push, or attack. As the word implies secretly obtaining information, or finding out, it may also be derived from the old English gun, which has

the same meaning. Gunned (American detective),

examined. Gunner (army), an artillery offi

cer. A well-known gunner, Lieut.-Col. —, has left England for India to take up a command.- The World. Gunny, gunny-bag (Anglo-In

dian), a sack, sacking. In English gypsy gono or gunnio is also a bag of any kind. In

Italian gonna is a petticoat. Gunster (turf). Vide To GUN. Gup (Anglo-Indian), the common

word among Europeans in India for prattle, gossip, or tittletattle.

The native ladies sit on their cushions from day to day, with no other amuse. ment than hearing the gup-gup, or gossip of the place.-Mrs. Sherwood's Autobiography. Gurry (American fishermen), de

composed spoiled crude oil,

Gush (common), exaggerated show

of sentiment, or manifestation of approval.

The Endacott perjury has ended, and very properly, in a verdict of acquittal. The charge ought never to have been made, and would not have been but for that absurd quality of gush which is in. herent in the English nation. It is this ever-present gush which blinds so many people to common sense. - Sporting Times. Gusher (common), one overflow

ing with sentiment, with exaggerated manifestations of approval, a rhapsodiser. She was a gushing school-girl, with the idea of matrimony as the ne plus ultra of poetic bliss. ...

“When your husband comes home from his toil," she asked, “ does he not woo you to rest with honeyed words?".

“Well, I dont know about honeyed words; last night all he could say was, “M'ria, it you can't untie the knots in these laces I shall go to bed in my boots, same as I did last Saturday.'"

That gusher's matrimonial enthusiasm is quenched. Sporting Times. Gushing (common). According

to feminine interpretation, the word gushing answers to the French phrase, "trop expansif," and is more often used in a

Guttle-shop (Rugby), a pastry

cook's or tuck shop. We can hardly bring our pen to write this word “pastrycook" as a substitute for the long-established and well-known, though perhaps inelegant, name by which we knew such places-guttle-shops.-Re. collections of Rugby.

repellent than in a laudatory sense, being habitually applied to overstrained professors of attachment, or exaggerated mani

festations of approval. Gut, to (schools), to eat more than

is good for one. Guts (old), to “have guts in the brain," to have sense.

Quoth Ralpho, truly that is no
Hard matter for a man to do
That has but any guts in's brain.

--Hudibras.
(Artists), “no guts in it.” The
expression is pretty general, but
itis more specially used by artists
to announce their opinion that

there is nothing in a picture. Gutter (Winchester College), a

purl into the water made by the violent contact of a bather's body with the water when he falls on his stomach. French schoolboys call this “piquer un plat - ventre.” (Binders), the white space between the pages of a book. (Common), to “lap the gutter,” to be in the last

stage of intoxication. Gutter - chaunter (common), a

street singer. Gutter lane (popular), the urinal. Gutter-prowler (thieves), a street

thief. Gutter-slush or snipe (popular), a

vagabond child who prowls in the streets, sent out by his parents to beg, if he have any, or begging on his own account if he have none.

Guy (thieves). Vide Do A GUY.

Still it is the constant burden of their thoughts-"How to do a guy!" A guy means to escape. The primal difficulty is the want of clothes.-Evening News.

From Dutch sailor-slang, in which gy seems to indicate speed as of the wind. “Gy-wind,” an arid dry wind. Or a corruption of go.

. Guy, to (theatrical), to condemn

a new play or an actor, literally to ridicule as one would a guy. Lo! "brilliant" stalls and solid pit In judgment on a new play sit. Some guy the poor playmaker's facts Between the acts-between the acts.

-Fun. (Common), to distort, literally to disguise as a guy. (General), a guy, an ill-dressed person, a person of queer dress or looks. From the effigy of Guy Fawkes, carried about by street boys on 5th of November.

Gyger or jigger (thieves), a door. Grose has gigger, a latch or door ; “dub the gigger,” open the door; “gigger dubber," the turnkey of a prison. A door, being for a thief an obstacle to be overcome, must be connected in his mind with the divers noises it creates when forced open, i.e., the creaking of the hinges,

clatter of bolts, grinding of keys in the lock. Hence the probable origin of gigger or jigger, from the provincialism to “gig," to make a noise. French rogues call a door or gate une lourde, a prison door being for them a heavy obstacle. For other deri.

vation, vide JIGGER. Gym-khana (Anglo - Indian), a

club or casino, including a skating-rink, lawn-tennis ground, and other amusements. It was, according to the Anglo-Indian Glossary, unknown twenty-five years ago. The word was invented in the Bombay Presidency, and was probably based upon gend-khana, “ball-house,” the name usually given in Hindu to an English racket-court. It is also a colonial term signify. ing a race-meeting got up by

Gyp (Cambridge), a college ser

vant. At Cambridge syp, at Oxford “scout," Collegians call the idle tout, Who brushes clothes, on errands runs, Absorbs their tips and keeps off duns,

--C. Bede: Verdant Green, Said to be derived from ypúy, a vulture. A more probable derivation is from gypsy, which has given gip, a thief.

Gyro-twistive (American), full of

evasions and tricks. Now Twine was a gyro-twistive cuss as

ever you did know, And mit some of his circumswindles he fix de matter so.

- The Breitmann Bailais.

“Hackles” are the long feathers on the back of a cock's neck which he erects when angry (Hotten).

HABBEN, hobben (gypsy), food,

meal. “Párraco mi-dúvel for a kūshto hābben!” thank my Lord

for a good meal! Hackamore (American, Western),

a head-stall for a horse. “She went with only a hackamore to bring back a couple of ponies that were straying." Squito shot off at a tangent on the broncho she was riding, with only a hackamore or head-stall, to bring back a couple. of ponies that were straying from the bunch. -F. Francis : Saddle and Moccasin. Hackle (popular), pluck; “to show

hackle,” to be willing to fight.

Had, can't be (London slang), not

to be taken in. While rambling once not far from here, I

observed on turning round A man stoop and pretend to pick up some

thing from the g ound; He comes to me and then says he, “Will

you buy this gold ring?” Said I, “My lad, I can't be had- I see it's no such thing." --Song: That's a Game best

left Alone.

It is sometimes applied to other homeopathic proceedings (0. Davies). Holding with most of our poets a vague notion that her woes were to be cured by a “hair of the dog who bit her," viz., by homeopathic doses.-Kingsley : Two Years Ago.

The saying, which has become a recognised phrase, probably originated in a belief that a dog bite could be cured by an application of the animal's hair to the wound, or it may be a version of the saying, “ Similia similibus curantur." The French have the common phrase, “reprendre du poil de la bête."

Haddock (popular), a purse. The

term probably belonged origin.

ally to fish-hawkers. Haddocks (Stock Exchange),

Great North of Scotland Ordi

nary Stock Had it, or him, on toast, did him

thoroughly, completely finished him. (Popular), all served up,

all ready, prepared. I loved her, that was clear, And oh, she had me on toast, she had, For I bouzht her a diamond ring, Then the very next day she bolted away With Charley the masher king.

-Ballad by T. F. Robson. Hag (Winchester College), an

ungracious epithet applied to a

matron. Haggler (costermongers). The

haggler is to the fruit and vege. table markets what the “ Bummaree" is to the fish market-a

jobber and speculator. Hair (common), “ keep your hair

on," do not be excited, keep your temper; varied to “keep your shirt on." With the most perfect good temper the new-comer answered the expostulations of the fat woman with a Keep yer hair on, Lizer."-Sporting Times.

" To take a hair of the dog that bit you,” to take a dram in the morning after a too free indulgence in liquor on the previous evening. But be sure, over night if the dog do

you bite, You take it henceforth for a warning, Soon as out of your bed, to settle your

head, Take a hair of his tail in the morning, -Hilton: Catch that Catch Can.

Hair-pin (American), a man. This

odd expression became popular
about 1880. It is derived from
a fancied resemblance of the
human figure to a double-tined
hair-pin, just as in Shakspeare's
time a thin man was compared
to a forked radish. In America
the simile is popularly extended
to clothes-pegs and tongs. It
is heard most frequently in the
form, " That's the kind of hair.
pin I am."
Aye, that is just the hair.pin

I am, and that's my line;
And here is twenty dollars

I've brought to pay my fine.

'Tis glorious when heroes

Go in to right their wrongs;
But if you're only hairpins,
Oh, then, beware of tongs !

-Carey of Carson : A Ballad. Half an eve (nautical), “ seeing

with half an eye," discerning easily.

418

Half-a-surprise-Hall.

Half-a-surprise (London slang), a

black eye. From a music-hall

song. Half - baked, soft - baked (pro.

vincialism), lacking in intelli. gence. The French equivalent for this is, “Il n'a pas la tête bien cuite." He treated his cousin as a sort of harm. less lunatic, and as they say in Devon, half-baked.-C. K’ingsley: Westward Ho.

Half-bord (old cant), a sixpence.

Half-fly flats (thieves' slang),

roughs ready to be hired to do

the dirty work of thieves. Half - grown shad (American),

stupid fellow. As the Germans say, “Nicht mehr Verstand als ein Rekrut im Mutterleibe,” no more intelligence than an unborn recruit. No more interlect than a half-grown shad.-Neal: Charcoal Sketches. He said it with a simple tone and gave

a simple smile, You never saw a half-grown shad one-half so void of guile.

-- The Green Old Man. Half-man (nautical), a landsman

or boy in a coaster not deserv.

ing the pay of a “full man.” Half-marrows (nautical), incom

petent seamen. Half-moon (old cant), a periwig. Half-mourning (common), “to

have one's eye in half-mourning,"
to have a black eye. Latterly
termed “half a surprise,” from
a music hall song, " Oh! what
a surprise."

Half-past kissing time, it's (popu. lar), an impudent answer often made by a man or boy to a girl who asks him what o'clock it is. It's half-past kissing time, and time to

kiss again, For time is always on the move, and

will still remain; No matter what the hour is, you may

rely on this, It's always half-past kissing time, and time again to kiss!

-G. Anthony: Ballad. Such phrases as the above are generally snatches of popular songs, or are often embodied in

them. Halfrocked (popular), half-witted,

silly. Half seas over (common), half or

indeed wholly drunk. Common at first among sailors, it has now spread to all classes of the community.

The Licensed Victuallers have presented a second life-boat to the R.N.L.I. Or course she will be manned by a cork'screw, who, though they may be sometimes half seas over, we trust may never be whole seas under. The L. Vi's, not be. lieving in water themselves, do their level best-their spirit level best-to save others from it.-Fun. Half 'un (common), an abbrevia

tion for half a glass of whisky and water.

North of the Tweed you get a “sma' 'un," but there is not about this the deli. cate suggestiveness of a half 'un. When Drew, and Romano, and Charlie Moore, not to mention the Gallery and the Rain. bow, start good little whiskies at twopence a time, there will be great times in Fleet Street and the Strand.-Sporting Times. Hall (University), a general term

for the common dinner served

Ha-loy—Hand-me-down.

419

in the college halls at a uni. versity. Hence the verb “to hall."

Ha-loy (pidgin Cantonese), come

down! “ Ha-loy, you fella' topside dat go-down ha-loy! hab got one piecee talkee fo’you earhear."

Halves (Winchester College), half

Wellington boots. They are non licet.

Ham (American), a loafer.

Ham-cases (thieves), trousers ;

called also “hams.”

Hamlet (American), a captain of

police. Hammer (common), an enormous

falsehood, synonymous with “ clincher,” and “ crammer.” In Scottish parlance, accord. ing to Robert Burns, sometimes called a "rousing whid," or in the London vernacular a "whopper,” a “rapper," a "good 'un," in contradistinction to a petty falsehood, called by ladies and children a “taradiddle."

Hammersmith (popular)," he has

been at Hammersmith," he has

received a terrific thrashing. Hammer, to (Stock Exchange), to declare one a defaulter.

But when the members fail,
Why, then the dealers quail,
For it sets the hammer working up
and down.

-Atkin: House Scraps. To beat, ill-treat.

A fellow as ever broke bread, As fly as a cop, he could hammer a slop.

-Sporting T'imes. Hampstead Heath sailor (popu

lar), a term of ridicule--no sailor at all. What the French call “marin d'eau douce," or

"amiral suisse." Hams shrunk (tailors), sides of

trousers shrunk at thigh. Hand-em-down (provincial), a

Northamptonshire term for a second-hand garment. Corresponds to the French “décro

chez-moi ça." Handicap, to (common). This

term, as used in racing, is a recognised word. It is also used in a metaphoric sense to signify to make even, to equalise the chances. Handle (common), a person with

a title is said to have a handle to his name. This is a very common and now recognised

phrase. Hand-me-down place (tailors),

a repairing tailor's, now often styled a “never-too-late-tomend shop."

Hammer-headed (common),

stupid, dull, obtuse. Possibly derived from the common yiddish slang, hammār, an ass.

Hammering (printers). This is a

slang expression used by compositors to indicate overcharging time work—to charge more "hours" than actually engaged on a particular job or work and thus cheating.

420

Hand-Hang-it-out.

The cut of his coat makes me weary! Regular hand-me-downs, and no mis. take-ugh-how can he expect the world to swallow that necktie ?- Detroit Free Press.

of the adjective is to be found in such vulgar phrases as “ The cheese is magnificent," " The butter was splendid,” “The eggs were first-rate," "The whole thing was marvellous,” “The liquor was glorious," “ The brearl was beautiful,” or “What a grand old time we had of it."

Handsome as a last year's corpse

(American), a sarcastic compliment (C. Leland Harrison : MS. Americanisms).

Hand out (American), an expression fully explained in the following extract from “The Western Avernus, or Toil and Travel in Further North America," by Morley Roberts - a work which should be read by every one before attempting to “rough it" in the “ West":-“Up to this time they had always given us our meals in the tents with knives and forks and plates (separately), but here the cooks brought out a huge can of soup, some potatoes, great lumps of boiled beef, a pile of plates, and a bucket of knives and forks. A chorus of growls rose up from us on all sides. ... Some of the boys said it was a regular hand out, and that we looked like a crowd of old bummers. Bum. mersistbe American for beggars, and a hand out is a portion of food handed out to a bummer or a tramp at the door when he is not asked inside.”

Handsomely (nautical), gently. Handsomely over the bricks

(nautical), go cautiously, have a care.

Handsprings (popular), to chuck

handsprings, to throw somersaults.

Hang (common), “not to care a

hany,” synonymous with “not to care a fig.” Hany, or “hang it!” denotes that the speaker does not care, is vexed, or disappointed. And there lay the rider we thought

couldn't fail; Ah! Captain Lee Barber ! we're broke

and want bail : The Frenchmen are beaten 'tis true;

but, oh, hang! We hadn't a bob on that beast Parasang.

-Sporting Times.

Handsaw (popular), a street

hawker of knives and razors.

Handseller (popular), a street or

open-air vendor.

Handsome, Americanism for

grand or beautiful. “The Falls of Niagara are one of the handsomest things in the United States.” “Yes! indeed, they are very elegant." A similar abuse

Hangers (popular), gloves, gene

rally well worn, carried in the

hand, but never put on. Hang - it out, to (printers), to

“skulk" on a job-not to do justice when on time work.

dwell ; “from the ancient custom,” says Hotten, “ of hanging out signs." "I say, old boy, where do you hang out?" Mr. Pickwick replied that he was at present suspended at the George and Vulture.—Dickens : Pickwick Papers,

“Ce bon Edouard " used to hang outand hang up-in a cold and barn-like atelier in the Rue d'Amsterdam.-Bird o' Free. dom.

Hang it up, to (American), to

charge to one's account, to put down to credit, to chalk it behind the door. Also English,

hung it up, slate it. Hang of a thing, to get or have

the (English and American), to
become familiar with, to learn
the art, manner, or way of
managing or using anything.
“I am bad at my lessons just
now," said a new pupil apolo-
getically, “but I expect to
do well as soon as I've got
the hang of the school-house."
Bartlett derives this, very in-
geniously, from the adjusting
of tools to their handles, which
is known as hanging; but hang-
ing in the sense of dependence,
relationship, and adjustment,
seems to be common in the
Indo-European languages, if not
in all others.
Though they ain't got the 'ang of it,

Charlie, the toffs ain't,-no go and

no spice! Why, I'd back Barney Crump at our

sing-song to lick 'em two times out o' twice.

-Punch.

Hang, to (popular and sporting),

to be in a desperate state. Said when a man cannot turn one way or the other. Dutch, “tus. schen hangen en wurgen,” to be between hanging and strangling. (American), “it all hangs on him," it all depends on him. In Dutch, “ De zaak hangt aan hem.”

Hang-off (printers), an expression

used to convey a rejection or avoidance of anything objectionable. To“ keep off” or

“fight shy" of anything. Hang out (University), a feasting,

an entertainment. I remember the date from the Fourth of July occurring just afterwards, which I celebrated by a hang out.-Bristed: Five Years.

Used as a verb, it signifies to treat, to have or possess, also to

Hang up a bill, to (politicians),

explained by quotation.

To hang up a bill is to pass through one or more of its stages, and then to lay it aside, and defer its further consideration for a more or less indefinite period.-Corn. hill Magasine. Hang up his hat (common), to

make one's self permanently at home, to board and lodge in a

house. I said, “Mrs. Jones, may I hang up my

hat?" She replied, “Mr. Sponge, I don't know about that."

-Comic Song. Hang up one's fiddle, to (Ameri.

can), to give up business, to resign, to desist, to retire from public into private life. When a man loses his temper, and ain't cool, he might as well hang up his fiddle.

Sam Slick.

Hansom (coster), a chop.
Hant, haunt (American), a ghost.

It is possibly the Malay word hant, an evil spirit. "It must be Beck's haunt,” suggested one. “Sure as I'm born,” said the preacher, “it does look like a ghost."-Atalanta Constitution : Georgia Ghost Stories.

But dem unz hants. Witches is dcre yer kinder fokes wal kim drap dere body and change inter a cat en a wolf.- Uncle Remus.

If a man at forty-two is not in a fair way to get a fair share of the world's spoils, he might as well hang up his fiddle.- Don's Sermons.

(Common), “to hang up one's fiddle anywhere,” to adapt one's

self to circumstances. Hang up, to (thieves), to rob with

violence. American thieves use the expression “hold up." Probably from hoisting a man on one's back, by means of a rope round his neck, while an accomplice robs him. French thieves call this mode of robbery

“la faire au père François.” Hánk (gypsy), a well. Hankin (trade), trickery. To

make common work appear to

be the best quality. Hanky-panky, adroit substitu

tion, palming, sleight-of-hand in legerdemain. The gypsies use huckeny and hunky to signify deceit. In Hindustani, the parent of gypsy, hoggu, pronounced hocku or honku, with the suffix bazee (a box), means legerdemain. In gypsy, huckeny pokee, or ponkee, means the adroit substitution by sleight-of-hand of a bundle containing lead or stones for another containing money or valuables. Hanky-panky and hocus-pocus are each one half almost pure Hindustani.- The English Gypsies and their Language. Ha

mags (theatrical), a conjuror. Hanky.spanky (popular), dash

ing, in dashing style ; refers specially to garments.

Han-tun (pidgin), one hundred. Hap-harlot, a jocose term for

a woman's under-garments. Wrap - rascal is a similarly facetious term for a man's overcoat. Hap - harlot has been modified or corrupted into hap

parlet. Ha'porth o' coppers (legal),

Habeas Corpus.

Happen on it, to (American), to meet with anything by chance or accidentally. This phrase, like “to happen in," i.e., “to happen to call in,” “to drop in on by accident,” is evidently derived from the regular verb "to happen," but it is worth noting that in Dutch happen means to snatch, or snap.

Yer oughter hev happened through here with that instrumint of yourn about that time, young feller; yer might hev kept as full as a tick, till they war busted. Thomas Stevens : Around the World on a Bicycle,

Hāpper, hápper (gypsy), to carry

away. Hoppercore, a policeman (one who carries away).

Happy-Hard-shell.

423

market was hardening against him.Moonshine.

I.e., the possibility of marriage

was decreasing. Hard horse (nautical), a tyran

nical officer. Hard lines (common), ill luck,

hardship. 'Ard lines, ain't it, Charlie, old hoyster ?

A barney's a barney, dear boy, And you know that a squeeze and a sky

lark is wot I did always enjoy, A street-rush is somethink splendacious to

fellers of sperrit like me, But dints and diakkylum plaster will spile the best sport, don'tcher see.

-Punch

Hard-mouthed un' (popular), an

obstinate person, or one difficult to deal with.

Happy returns (Australian popu.

lar), throwing up one's food. If a person feels sick, feels his "dinner in his mouth," as Eng. lish people say, he will say that

" he has the happy returns." Hard (roughs and thieves), for hard labour.

. . And then do his month's hand on his head. -- Sporting Times.

(American rhyming slang), hard coal, silver and gold, hard. ware, false coin, hard metal. Hard bargain (nautical), a lazy

fellow, a skulker. Hard case (American), a very

common old-fashioned expres. sion for a worthless, shameless man, or any one from whom nothing good can be expected. One may sometimes see in “stores” lists of hard cases hung up, i.e., of defaulting debtors. A petrified body has been discovered in Ohio. It is not the first hard case that has come to light in that commonwealth. - Detroit Free Press.

(Nautical), a bullying, cruel officer. Hard cheese (Royal Military

Academy), varied sometimes to "what cheese!” or “fromage.”

Vide CHEESE. Hardening market (commercial).

The market is said to harden from the purchaser's point of view when prices advance. Also used when one's chances of success are decreasing.

Take it all together, his lise was becoming a mockery and a misery. The matrimonial

Hard neck (tailors), a great

amount of cheek and impudence.

Hard or soft drinks (American).

In the United States any liquor which is decidedly intoxicating is called hard, while soda-water, lemonade, root-beer, gingerbeer, and the like, are soft. Likewise the French call these

respectively raide, and doux. Hard row to hoe (American), a

very common phrase to express a bard task. Captain Ben sighed. I thought ma'be you was having a hard row to hoe, and I thought like enough.- Frances Lee Pratt: Captain Ben's Choice.

Hard-shell(American), thoroughly

orthodox, unyielding, “hidebound,” or conservative in reli

424

Hard-shell-Harlequin.

gion or politics. The first persons known by this name were the old-fashioned Baptists in Georgia, who regarded all reforms as new-fangled fancies, so that they even disapproved of temperance. It is said that once when there was to be a great religious revival, a member rose and said :-“I hev to complain of Brother Smith. He is a rich man, he is worth six or seven thousand dollars, and yet he has only contributed one gallon of whisky towards this revival. Now I'm a pore man, but, to uphold the cause of Christ, I hev given a whole bar'l of sperits, for when it comes to sustaining religion l'll jest do my level best.” The name hard-shell, or “hards,” was given to a division in the Democratic party in 1848. Both in religion and in politics the opponents of these “ orthodox” parties were called “softshells."

He knows every one and every one knows him by his Christian name. Each time drinks are called for he is included. He cannot drink hard stref, however, always. His business would suffer. He has a private bottle filled with tea, from which he fills his glass after receiving pay. ment.-A. C. Grant. Hard tack(nautical), ship biscuits.

At that particular moment I should have preferred some coffee and hard tack to a lecture.- O'Reilly: Fifty Years on the Trail.

(Popular), coarse or insufficient food. Vide Tack. Hard up (common), wanting for

anything, short of money, poor, varied to “hard up for cash." He ought, or nothing else may be,

Such is sweet woman's whim-
A“J," a knave, or e'en hard up,

She's still "soft down" on him.
To make a conquest where he will,

A gallant "gay young spark"
Two attributes need but possess :
He must be "tall and dark !"

-Bird o' Freedom. "Sorry to say, Brown owes money to me! Is he hard up?" "Very."--Pall Mall Gazette.

(Popular), a man who picks up cigar ends in the street. Hard-upness (common), a state of

impoverishment. But in either district there were frequent failures, arising from inexperience of the parties concerned, or collapses from death or hard-upness.-Aliniiley: Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack. Hardware blokes (thieves), men

of Birmingham. Hare it (American thieves), re

turn, come back. Harlequin (theatrical), a sove

reign.

A number of swimming-bath proprietors have been fined in the United States for opening their establishments on Sunday morrings. The prosecutors were certain religious (?) lunatics who resuscitated a quaint old law against bathing on the Sabbath. Genuine hard shell fanatics, who are mad on the subject of religion, are usually dirty in their habits, and strangely ignore the text, “Cleanliness is next to godliness."—f'un.

Hard stuff (up-country Austra

lian), intoxicating liquors. The bushman has a great contempt for non-alcoholic liquors. Intoxicating liquors he calls hard stuff, as the only thing not too “soft” for men.

Harman beck (old cant), a con.

stable. It has been suggested that harman beck is, literally, one who beckons, orders you off to the stocks. Vide BEAK.

“It is very probable that this word was derived from the name of the celebrated magistrate Harman, who was as well known to all the thieves of England during the reign of Elizabeth, as was George Borrow to the gypsies in that of Victoria" (Charles G. Leland: MS. Notes

of Gypsy Lore). Harmans, hartmans (old cant),

the stocks.

The Bube and Ruffian cly the Harman beck and harmans. - Thomas Dekker : Lanthorne and Candle Light.

From harre, the back upright timber of a gate, synonymous with stock or post; and same suffix used in other cant words, such as “lightmans,” day; “ darkmans," night; “ruffmans,” hedges, bushes, woods ;

"togman,” coat. Hāro, haúro, hālono (gypsy),

copper; hórra, a copper, i.e., a

penny. Harper, an Irish shilling which

bore the figure of a harp, and was only worth ninepence (Wright). “Harp” is a call at

pitch-and-toss, also “music.” Harrower (theatrical), a term of

derision used to describe a pathetic and powerful artiste, male or female, who is accus. tomed to harrow the feelings of the audience.

Harry (common), to play old

Harry with one, is synonymous with to play the devil, to annoy or ruin one. Old Harry is, of course, the “old gentleman," the devil. It has been suggested that Harry is the word hairy; but it is possible that it comes from to harry, to torment, to tear in pieces, so that Old Harry would literally mean the old tormentor, the “arch tormentor," “old scratch.” Again, it may simply be the diminutive of Henry, old “Nick” or Nicholas being another name for the devil. Sailors often swear “by the Lord Harry.” Harry Bluff (rhyming slang), snuff. Harry! Harry! (provincial), a

derisive expletive addressed by workmen to their mates when

the latter are overladen. Harry Soph. This is given as a

recognised term by Webster, with the definition of a university student at Cambridge who, having sufficient standing to take the degree of B.A., declares himself a candidate for a degree

in law or physic. From èploopos. Hash (common), to make a hash

of it, to jumble together, to spoil; to settle his hash, to kill him.

(American cadets), a term given to the clandestine preparation of supper in the rooms, subsequent to the extinction of

lights, and contrary to rule. Ah! there was a dream of revelry then, As over the hash these jovial men

Did stand to inhale the savoury smell,
And all went smooth as a marriage bell.

- The West Point Scrap Book. Haslar hags (nautical), the nurses

of the naval hospital, Haslar, near Gosport. Hatches (nautical), under hatches,

safely stowed away, dead and buried, in distress, trouble, or

debt. Hatchet (tailors), a name vulgarly

applied to a plain or ugly woman. (Nautical), “to sling the hatchet," to sulk; the reverse of to bury the hatchet or tomahawk, a prac. tice of Red Indians in time of

peace, Hatchet, to throw or sling the

(common), to tell lies, to “draw

the long bow.” Hatch, match, and dispatch

column (American and journalistic), a vulgar epithet to describe the births, marriages, and deaths announcements in the press. An equivalent is the

cradle, altar, and tomb column. Hatch - thoke (Winchester Col

lege). The term signifies founder's days, which are holidays with Amen Chapel at 11 A.M. There are three in Long Half and two in Short Half. Nobody need be up till 9 A.M. The Warden and Fellows on those days assemble

and discuss college affairs. Hatchway (nautical), the mouth. Hat fellow commoner (Cam

bridge). At Trinity College, a fellow commoner, who was

either a baronet, the eldest son of one, or the younger son of a nobleman, formerly wore a tall hat instead of the square cap

or “mortar-board.” Hatfield (common), a drink con

sisting of gin and gingerbeer,
and other ingredients.
A deep draught of iced Hatfield.

-Punch. Hating out (American), sending a

man to Coventry.

The punishment for idleness, lying, dishonesty, and ill-fame generally was that of hating the offender out, as they expressed it. It commonly resulted in the reformation or banishment of the person against whom it was directed. If a man did not do his share of the public service, he was hated out as a coward. -S. Mer chaval : History of Virginia. Hat trick (cricket), a bowler who

takes three wickets in succession * is said to have done the hat trick.

From the custom of giving him a hat as a recognition of his skill. Only three attained to double figures, and the collapse at the end of the innings was remarkable, the wickets of Attewell, Newton, and Beaumont falling to three successive balls from Griffin, who thus ac. complished the hat trick.-Standard. Haul my wind (nautical), an ex

pression when an individual is going upon a new line of action, to avoid a quarrel or difficulty

(Admiral Smyth). Haul over the coals, to (society),

to scold, give a lecture to. Very often used in reference to any one in an official position who gets reprimanded. Supposed to refer to the ordeal by fire. More

The fellows were mad with fighting too. I wish they hadn't come here and made hay afterwards.-H. Kingsley: Ravenshoe. Hazard - drum (thieves), a gam

bling-house.

probably an allusion to the state of discomfort of a person fuming under the scolding. The French have the familiar phrase, "être sur le gril," to be on tenterhooks, in a stew, literally on the

gridiron. Have the drop on, to (American),

to have the advantage of, to cover with an aim. From the

drop, bead, or sight on a rifle. Havey-cavey (popular), wavering

doubtful. Hawk (common), cardsharper,

swindler. He kept a private hotel at the West End of London, which might be termed a gambling house frequented by dissipated lords--hawks and “pigeons."— Evening News.

The Germania or Spanish cant has gerifulte, a kind of hawk, for a thief; and aquila (eagle), for

an expert thief. Häwker (gipsy), to drive away;

Hindu, hawkáná. Hawks her meat (common), said

of a woman who is very dé. colletée. French, “elle montre

sa viande." Hawk, ware (thieves), be carefull

look out! Hawse (nautical),“to fall athwart

one's hawse,"to come across one,

to obstruct one's way. Hay, to make (common), to throw

everything into confusion, to turn topsy-turvy. Originally an Oxford phrase.

Haze, to. In England, to confuse,

annoy, and intentionally perplex by contradictory orders. In the United States it expresses physical as well as mental cruelty. It is there peculiarly applied to the tormenting of newly-arrived students in universities and military or naval schools. This practice is sometimes carried to a great extent. West Point has just held a court-martial over the insubordination of certain cadets, and now the Annapolis Naval School is indulging in much the same luxury. The accused were guilty of hazing some of the younger academicians.-American Newspaper.

Hazree (Anglo-Indian), this

word is commonly used (AngloIndian Glossary) in AngloIndian households in the Bengal Presidency, for breakfast. It is not clear how it got this meaning. It is probably hāziri, “muster;" from the Arabic

ḥāzir, “ready" or “present.” He can't dance (American), some

times heard to indicate a man without culture. “His daddy hasn't got no peach-orchard, and he can't dance." In Delaware, where almost every farm contains a peach-orchard, this allusion to the orchard would imply a very small landed proprietor. Not many years ago there were not a few people

who regarded music in divine service as a profane thing. A rustic who had never even heard of such a thing visited one of the great cities, and found himself on Sunday morning before the door of a church. “Walk in, sir,” said the sexton, “and attend service.” Just then the organ pealed loudly and the stranger drew back in horror. “No, mister,” he replied; “I ain't used to no sitch carryin's-on on a Sunday-besides, I can't dance !”

Head-cook and bottle-washer

(popular), a general servant. Header (tailors), a notability. Heading (American cowboy

slang), a pillow or anything put under the head at night (C. Leland Harrison : MS. Ameri.

canisms). Head-quarters (turf), Newmarket. Head-rails (popular), the teeth.

Originally a sea phrase, the headrails being the short rails of the head extending from the back of the figure to the cat-head. While to another he would cheerfully remark, “Your head-rails were loosened then, wasn't they?"-C. Bede Verdant Green. Head robber (popular), a butler. Head robbers (journalistic), pla

giarists, those who steal the work of other men's brains.

Head (American), to get a head,

or a head on, is to have a swelled head after being intoxicated. Neal Dow has been lecturing on “How to get a head." It pains us that the good old gentleman should evince so much knowledge of the after effects of excessive drinking.- Detroit Tribune.

To put a head on a man, to assault with intent to annihilate

an adversary. But all his jargon was surpassed, in wild

absurdity, By threats, profanely emphasised, to put

a head on me! No son of Belial, said I, that miracle

can do! Whereat he fell upon me with blows and

curses too, But failed to work that miracle-if such

was his designInstead of putting on a head, he strove to smite off mine.

- Galveston News.

Head-serag (Bengalee and sea),

a master, overseer, or other important personage. From serang, a boatswain, according to Hotten. Evidently the same as the provincial head Sir Rag, a principal, the chief agent or actor

in anything. Heads out! (American Univer

sity), a cry of alarm and warning to be on guard when a professor or master is near, and when any lark or spree is in

progress. Head station (up-country Austra

lian), the homestead on an Australian station. Vide STA

Head - beetler (workmen), the

bully of a workshop. Head boy (Royal Military

Academy), the senior under officer.

Head-Hedge-bottom.

429

TION. The head station is the house occupied by the owner or manager of a station or run, and of course contains the office at which its business is transacted.

Soon they passed a head station, as the homestead and main buildings of a station are invariably called. . . The houses were comfortably built, and of handsome design; a large garden adjoined them ; creepers covered the verandahs and outbuildings, of which there were many; and several paddocks of great extent, encircled by substantial post and rail fences, sur. rounded the whole.-A. C. Grant : Bush. Life in Queensland.

Healtheries (common), modern

slang abbreviation for the Health Exhibition.

Heap, all of a (common), amazed,

confused, dismayed.

The Daily News is all of a heap this morning over the Gower election.-Globe.

Heaver (old cant), the breast,

now called the “panter;" hence

heavers, persons in love. Heavy dragoons (Oxford Univer

sity), bugs (Hotten). Heavy swell (common), a great

swell. And Mr. Crackit is a heavy swell, an'ı he, Fagin? - Charles Dickens : Oliver Twist. Heavy wet (common), strong malt

liquor; principally used to de.
scribe porter, stout, or double
stout, and sometimes called
treble X., because designated by
publicans and brewers as XXX.
To the Blue Posts let us go,
There will clouds of bacca blow,
And our cares we'll forget
In a flood or heavy wet.

-Song of 1828. Hedge, to (turf), to reverse on

advantageous terms the previous order of a wager-e.g., if a person takes 100 to 10 about a horse for a future race, and subsequently lays 90 to 10 against the same animal, he has hedged his money-he may win £10, but cannot under any circumstances lose.

You must back a winner before you can win in any case, system or no system. Of course, a horse can be laid against, or a bet may be hedged, but this does not apply to the backing of horses on a system.–Bird o' Freedom.

(Popular), to get away on the appearance of danger. Hedge-bottom attorney or soli

citor (legal). This is applied to a person who, not being himself a solicitor, or who, if he is, has

Heap, struck all of a (popular),

amazed.

Hearing cheats (old cant), the

ears, now termed “leathers” or “lugs."

Heartburn. London cads, who

find a name for everything, thus call a cigar, evidently a very cheap one.

Heave a booth, to (thieves), to

plunder a house. Also to “heave a case."

Heavenly collar and lappel

(tailors), a name given to collars or lappels that turn the wrong

way.

430

Hedge-bottom-Heeler.

not taken out his certificate (or perbaps has been a solicitor, but has been struck off the rolls for unprofessional conduct), sets up in business as a solicitor under the name of a man who is a solicitor, and thus evades the penalties attaching to those who act as solicitors without being duly qualified ; because, although all the business is done in the name of another, yet he it is who is the real principal, introducing the clients, doing the legal business, and pocketing the fees; the other is only a dummy to be used as a figure-head for evading the law.

Hedgehog, to (Northampton pro

vincial), to reveal, to open, to bring to light. “A witness giving evidence in an Assize Court said 'the prisoner hedgehogged !' On being asked what he meant, he said that 'a hedgehog when in water opened ; and the man, when they gave him plenty of beer, opened and told all he knowed.'"

man would make all that he could by fair means or foul. “I was moighty hard up at the timeright down on the bed-rock-and it may be that I was just monkeying with the cards--a little."

"You bet yer!” cried Jake from the store. “Hid play his hand for all there was in it, anyhow."-F. Francis: Saddle and Moccasin. Heeled (Western American),

armed, weaponed, well defended. An allusion to the practice of arming the birds in cock-fighting with steel spurs. “Were both men heeled ?" i.e., were they both armed.

If I'd had any show, I'd have drawn on 'em right away,I wanted to ter'ble bad; but I hadn't got no Winchester along, and only two cartridges in my sixshooter, whilst they was both well-heeled. -F. Francis: Saddle and Moccasin. Heeler (American), an accom

plice of the pocket-book dropper. The heeler stoops behind the victim and strikes one of his heels as if by mistake. This makes him look down, and so draws his attention to the pocket-book which lies on the ground. The dupe is about to pick it up, when the dropper steps forward and claims half of whatever may be in the pocket-book, but offers to relinquish his share for a certain sum, ten or twenty dollars. The dupe, who has taken a peep and ascertained that the dun. my is stuffed with bank-notes, pays the money, and then finds out later that he has bought counterfeit bills. “Heelers and strikers," men who beset can

Hedger (turf). Vide HEDGE. That a tailor's bad to beat when his plans

are all complete, Must be plain to every punter, sharp,

and hedger; So if Eiridspord's the pea, as he'll very

likely be, Follow Taylor as a snip for the St. Leger.

- Sporting Times. He'd play his hand for all there

was in it (American), a very significant intimation that a

didates for office to extort money from them on divers pretences.

(Winchester College), a jump into the water feet first. French schoolboys call this “une chan

delle." Heels, to turn up (old), to die,

also “to turn up one's toes.” A variant was to "topple up the heels."

The backewinter ... and sicknesse ... seaven thousand and fifty people toppled up their heels then. - Nash : Lenten Stuffe. Heel-tap, a small quantity of

liquor left in the glass by any one who drinks or pretends to drink the honour of a proposed toast. This was held in the ultra convivial days of our not very remote ancestors to be a mark of disrespect or of effi. minacy, and was often met by the warning of “No heel-taps." Also the fag end of a bottle. Nick took off his heel-tap, bowed, smiled

with an air Most graciously grim, and vacated the

chair. -Ingoldsby Legends.

Heel-taps properly are pieces of leather fastened on the bot. tom of a boot or shoe when repairing the sole. Hence the

metaphor. He-foo (pidgin), a sky-rocket, lite.

rally “a rise-fire” (Cantonese). Hefty (American). Bartlett de

fines this as “heavy” in the sense of weight. It is also used to indicate anything great, remarkable, or extraordinary in a

"moral" as well as a physical sense.

In course they knows what a perlocefede (velocipede) is, from seein' 'em in pictures, but they never seed a real machine, and it'd be a hefty treat for 'em! - Thomas Stevens: Around the World on a Bicycle He got there with both feet

(American), meaning that he was very successful.

He said as he'd been gambling, and was two hundred dollars ahead of the whole town. He got there with both feet at starting, and was eight hundred ahead once. But he played it off at monté.-F. Francis : Saddle and Moccasin. Heifer paddock, (Australian), a

ladies' school. The derivation from heifer, a young cow-cow being a slang word for a woman

-is obvious. " The fact is, my dear Murray," he added, "the cattle (women) hereabouts are too scattered, you can't inspect them pro. perly. Next year I shall look over a heifer paddock in Sydney and take my pick."Mrs. Campbell Reed: Sketches of Australian Life. Heigh-ho (thieves), stolen yarn.

Hékkal hokki! (gypsy), haste !

Possibly the original of “book

it,” i.e., hurry. Hell (tailors), the place where a

tailor deposited his cabbage

(Wright). Hell and scissors ! (American), a

peculiar interjection, signifying that while one startled at some. thing there is still something ridiculous in the affair. “To kick up hell—and break things” is often uttered in quite the same spirit.

Hell and tommy (popular). To

“play hell and tommy” with any one, to ruin him utterly. ACcording to Dr. Charles Mackay, this grotesque expression probably means to reduce a man to extreme destitution, or to bread and water, and if so, an etymon may be found in the Keltic ol, drink, and tomadh (toma), a lump

of bread. Hella - popping (American), a

tremendous row or dispute, no doubt from the propensity of those who use the expression for using their “six-shooters" on the slightest provocation.

There was hell a-popping. One fellow said he had roped in a sow with the left ear off. . . . Another fellow said that he had got a young boar with the right ear off. So they went to him, madder than hell they were, too.-F. Francis: Saddle and Moccasin. Hell-box (printers), the receptacle

for bad, broken, or “battered" letters, which are eventually melted down.

Thirty-ninth Street tenements, offer harın to no one, except when a shower of stones falls from the gutters on an unpopular policeman.-Philadelphia Press. (From MS. Collection of Americanisms, by C. Leland Harrison.) Hell's mint (American). "A mint

of money" has led to describing a large quantity of anything as one. “Old B. has got a mint of houses, as I hear.” Hence hel's mint, as a superlative of abun. dance.

Is that an Indian over there, or is it only a soap-weed? There's a heli's mint of soap-weed killed these Indian times, grease bush too--and cactus! cactus gets fits, The boys are death on cactus when they get scared. Some of them would just as soon shoot a cactus as not-- they don't care what they kill.-F. Francis: Saddle and Moccasin.

He makes his fun pay (American),

said of a very shrewd man, one for instance who keeps horses to ride and drive, yet manages so well by “trading” that they cost him nothing. A great sharper having said to Lessing that it had cost him ten thousand dollars to see the world, Lessing replied that he feared that the world would gladly give quite as much never to have seen him.

Hellion (American), a very abu

sive word, used in the Southern States, equivalent to “devil or hell's own." Possibly a form of hell-hound.

Hell's kitchen (American), a

horrible slum. Hell's Kitchen, Murderer's Row, and the Burnt Rag are names of localities which form collectively the worst place in New York.

Poor old Bottle Alley, in Baxter Street, has become a mere snoozing-ken for vag. rants made sodden and stupid with age, disease, and rum; Hell's Kitchen, those big

Hemp, young (old), young scoun

drel deserving the gallows. Hempen croak (common), the

hangman's rope. Hempen widow (thieves), one

whose husband was hanged. In a cell of the stone jug I was born, Of a hempen widow the kid forlorn.

Harrison Ainsworth

Hen—Hermaphrodite.

433

white man who was called the herder. This job is not always a happy one, although it is well paid, for the Chinamen who work on railroads are the very scum of China, wharf-rats from Hong-Kong, and are evil and desperate. Consequently it is no uncommon thing for a herder to get killed or badly beaten by them.-M, Roberts : The Western Avernus.

(American cowboys), baby herder, a nurse.

Hen (American), a wife or mis

tress, girl or woman.

This was more than Jane could endure from Emily. “My young man is as good as yours," she screamed, “and five miles out of town better." And saying this she administered an exhilarating old slap on the face which sounded like the breaking of a tall pine tree by a cyclone. The henfight lasted exactly five minutes. What was left required exactly two weeks eight hours and ten minutes to reconstruct. Philadelphia Newspaper. The nights are spent at a poker game, He speaks of the ballet as something

tame,
And with jibe and joke, these racy men
Refer to the season that brings his hen,
And pleasures flee.

-Hollis W. Field. Hen-convention (popular), an as

semblage of women at which no man is present. Also “hen

party.”

Hen-frigate (nautical), a ship in which the captain's wife plays a domineering part, "wears the breeches.'

Hen-house (old), a house for

soidiers' wives.

Herdic (American), a carriage for

public conveyance, something like a small omnibus. They were invented and brought into use by a Mr. Herdic of Pennsylvania, whence the name. They are now common in most Ame. rican cities. Honest men, like needles in hay-mounds, are hard to find, but we have one in our midst, and his name is Joseph Carroll, driver of private herdic.-Chicago Tri. дипе. Hereford (American cowboy),

white.

A white shirt he calls a Hereford shirt because Hereford cattle have white faces. Similarly calls anything Hereford that is white; for example, Hereford dishes and Hereford hats. Carrying this fancy stiil further, a "white" man is known as a Hereford man.-Philadelphia Press. (C.

Leland Harrison : MS. Americanisms.) · Here's luck (tailors), I don't

believe it. Hermaphrodite or morfydite

schooner (nautical) is square rigged, but without a top for. ward, and schooner rigged abaft; carrying only fore-and-aft sails on the mainmast; in other phrase, she is a vessel with a brig's foremast and a schooner's mainmast (Admiral Smyth).

Hens and chickens (thieves), ex

plained by quotation.

The hens and chickens of the low lodging-houses are the publicans' pewter measures ; the bigger vessels are hens, the smaller chickens.-Mayhew: London Labour and the London Poor.

Called also “ cats and kit. tens."

Herder (American). In the West,

a white man who has charge of a gang of Chinese.

I found large gangs of Chinamen at work in different places, in charge of a

Hickey (thieves), tipsy, not quite

drunk, elated. Probably from hiccough.

Hickety split. Vide FULL DRIVE.

Hickory shirt (American), a cheap,

durable woollen shirt generally worn by working men, or by those who dispense with linen or muslin. “Good heavens, girl!" asked Mr. Neece of the domestic, "what are you doing with that hickory shirt ?"

"Faith an' I'm brushing some of the dust out of it. It's in a shameful condi. tion.”—Peona Transcript.

Hid (American), an abbreviation

of hideous, used as a noun. Used chiefly by girls. “She's a perfect hid.”

Herring (American), all bad, all

alike. Hence the later expres. sion “sardine," applied to a man who is exactly like all his associates, a narrow-minded. average sort of person, who has been packed away as it were

among others. Herring gutted (old), lanky. Herring pond, the (common), a

facetious name given to the Atlantic Ocean. Said to be of American origin, but now commonly used in both continents.

Everybody nowadays has read as much as he or she cares to about the voyage across the herring-pond, a voyage of which many of our American cousins think less than other men of a Channel. crossing.-.Phillipps-Wolley: Trottings of a Tenderfoot. He's gone north about (nautical)

said of a sailor who has died from any cause but drowning. Shakspeare in "Twelfth Night” (Act iii. scene 2) uses a somewhat similar phrase, and which seems to throw some light upon theexpression as used by sailors:

_“You are now sailed into the north of my lady's opinion, where you will hang like an icicle on a Dutchman's beard, unless you do reclaim it by some

laudable attempt.” Hewgag, the (American), name

for an undeterminate, unknown

mythical creature. Hick, country (old cant), a stupid

clodhopper. Hickjap (thieves), a fool. Hicksam,

a countryman, a foolish fellow.

Hiding (common), a good hiding, a

severe beating with the "hide," or dried skin of an animal, formerly used as a scourge. To “cow-hide," or beat with a cow or ox-hide, is a common expression, and before the use of the revolver became unhappily prevalent, was once a common practice in the United States. The word has been erroneously derived from the effect of the beating, the skin or hide of the beaten person, and not from the material of the scourge itself. “What right has a josser like you to interfere ?" the coal-heaver retorted, turning toward the tall stranger. “You may be a D., but I will give you a hiding for your cheek."--Bird o' Freedom.

High, the (Oxford), the High

Street at Oxford.

And after calling in at the tailor's to express his approbation, he at once sallied forth to do the High.-C. Bede: Verdant Green.

High and dry (clerical),

old-fashioned members of the Church of England are often de. scribed disrespectfully as being high and dry. Those of the Evangelical Church are per contra dubbed "low and slow." (American), a simile borrowed from any article left on the beach by a retreating tide. To be left without resources, to be

quite abandoned and helpless. They ate like brave men, long and well ;

they gobbled there and then, Till the abdomens grew rotund of those

gallant Fremont men, A beef a day to every man was but a small

supply; Soon conquered they Vallejo's ranch-they ate him high and dry.

-Political Song of 1850. High-boy, a High Tory and

Churchman, supposed to favour
Jacobitism (0. Davis).

meaning extravagant language or nonsense. Hifelufelem is Narret hei, Possen, Schwank, Ränk.—Der Herried ene Laubfrosch.

The remarkable resemblance, as regards both sound and meaning, existing between these words cannot fail to strike the reader. Of late years, terms known more or less to all Jews, especially of thecommoner class, have begun to work far more freely into American slang than is generally supposed. By associating hifelufelem with “high flighting," high faluten would be speedily evolved. It may be observed that in rapid conversation, the Hebrew or yiddish word becomes hifelufem or hifelufen, which is a materially nearer approach to the wellknown American term.

The phrase is now common in England. A paper in Cincinnati was very much given to high falutin' on the subject of “this great country," until a rival paper somewhat modified its continual bounce with the following burlesque : “This is a glorious country! It has longer rivers and more of them, and they are muddier and deeper, and run faster, and rise higher, and make more noise, and fall lower, and do more damage than anybody else's rivers."— Tit Bits. High fly, on the (mendicants),

begging on the high" toby” or high road, and tramping over the country. Also operating as a begging-letter impostor.

High faluting (American), high

flown, extravagant, bombastic language ; also said of a gay, impudent sort of fellow. “There can be little doubt," says Mr. Bartlett, “ of its derivation from high 'flighting.'" As for its coming, as Hotten absolutely asserts, as if it were an established fact, from the Dutch verlooten (which word he does not translate), it is enough to say that verlooten means “to cast lots." It is very remarkable that there exists in yiddish the word hifelufelem,

Highflyer (common), an incredible

or extravagant story.

High go (American University),

a merry drinking-bout or frolic. “ To get high" is to become

tipsy and intoxicated. High horse (American). It is

commonly said of any one who is putting on airs or assuming a lofty or dignified tone, that “he is on his high horse.” Something equivalent to it is to be found in many languages. The French say “monter sur ses

grands chevaux" (not slang). High jinks, properly an old

Scottish pastime played in dif. ferent ways. At a club or convivial gathering is that part of the evening when the punchbowl is introduced together with unlimited license.

There he found the eleven at high jinks after supper, Jack Raggles shouting comic songs and performing feats of strength; and was greeted by a chorus of mingled remonstrance at his desertion, and joy at his appearance. — Tom Brown's School. days.

(Common), a jollification, All sorts of revelry, all sorts of devilry, All play at high jinks and keep up the

ball, Days, weeks, and months, it is really

astonishing, As to what passed on his own wedding. day.

- Ingoldsby Legends. To play the high jinks, to take up an arrogant position. In days of yore the Lord of Misrule Played very high jinks at the Tide of

Yule, And sported about like a chartered fool,

And did pretty much as he chose ; There were scarce any bounds to his

quips and cranks,

His lunatic larks and his motley pranks,
And victims who suffered e'en offered

him thanks
For robbing them of repose.

-Fun. (American), high jinks, small gamblers. High rented (popular), hot. A

seat near a fire is said to be high rented when it gets too hot for

comfort. High roller (American), one who

plays high, or who takes the lead. He's a high roller, by gum! when he's got it (i.c., money).-F. Francis : Saddle and Moccasin.

Donaldson in those days was known as a high roller, and under his instructions John dealt the game without a limit. Donaldson finally left the business here and went west. - Chicago Daily InterOcea. High rope, on the (American), in

a passion, very loud, taking on

great airs. High stepper (society), a well

dressed girl, who has a good figure and is handsome, a swell

of any kind. High tariff language (American),

rhapsodical, magniloquent, or extravagant words. Mingle in de mazes of de dance dou knight ob valour, while de resplendent luminary of de day has wifdrawn his light from de ears, till de bright Aurora gilds de eastern sky wid golden an den wid car. rowkteristic gallivantry, accompany de fair an' umsumfisticated partners of dy pleasure to deir pyternel mansions--Herey dat am high tariff language.- Brudder Bones. High ti (American University), a

showy recitation. In use at

Williams College. At Harvard the equivalent is a “squirt.”

High tobers. In American

thieves' slang, the very highest order of “gonoffs" or thieves, who go well dressed and frequent watering-places.

High toby (old cant), the high

road. “On the high toby," to take to the road as a high toby. man or highwayman.

High toby, which, in ancient robber slang, meant the high revelry and luxury and reckless indulgence which characterised the existence of those bold blades who took to the road, was nowhere visible.J. Greenwood : Dick Temple.

It was one thing to hear play-actors on the stage, in their tame and feeble delineations of the ancient game of high toby, and of the redoubtable doings of the Knights of the Road, spout such soul-thrilling er. fusions as “Nix my Dolly, pals," and “ Claude Duval;" but what must it be to listen to the same bold staves out of the mouth of real “roaring boys,” some of them, possibly, the descendants of the very heroes who rode "up Holborn Hill in a cart," and who could not well hear the good words the attendant chaplain was uttering, because of the noisy exchange of boisterous “chaff" taking place between the short-pipe smoking driver, whose cart-seat was the doomed man's coffin, and the glee. ful mob that had made holiday to see the fun !-Seven Curses of London.

Highwater mark, up to the (com. mon), up to the mark, an ex

pression of approval. High-wood (common), properly a

name given to timber. “He lives in high-wood," he conceals

himself, he has a secret game. Higulcion ilips (Texas), an ima

ginary malady. Hike (London slang), to carry off,

convey, arrest. “Hike, to swing,
put in motion, toss, throw,
strike, to go away, hurry”
(Wright's Dictionary).
And hiked me off as sure as fate,
Before the sitting magistrate.

-Song: If I had a Donkey, &c. Hi! Kelly (provincial Manx), a

mode of address among passersby in the Isle of Man. Kelly is the name borne by a large number of people in the island

- hence probably its derivation. Hindboot (common), the breech. Hind coachwheel (popular), a

crown. In French slang a fivefranc piece is termed “roue de derrière.”

High-tone niggers (American), negroes who have raised themselves in social position, or in other ways bettered their condition.

Hing (Anglo-Indian), assafoetida.

It is remarkable that the Germans call this abominably smelling gum teufel's-dröck, i.e., stercus diaboli, while the common gypsy name for voiding excrement is hinger.

I never saw any so-called high-tone niggers; and, except in the capacity of bar. bers, waiters, and shoeblacks, never saw any coloured men in the hotels.-Phillipps. Wolley: Trottings of a Tenderfoot.

Hip (thieves), hip inside, inside

coat pocket; hip outside, outside pocket.

Already people from Lyrsilla and the citron groves of St. Lawrence county are coming into town, bringing their din. ners and hitching their teams to the fence behind the Coliseum.-New York Mercury.

Hipped (common), ill. To be

hipped, to suffer from “a fit of

the blues," or of hypochondria. Hippen, a Scotch synonym for

the green curtain. Hence in Glasgow the gods shout “Up

with the hippen!” His nabs there (tailors), him, the

individual referred to. A variant

of “his nibs.” His nibs (theatrical), himself, his

person. From the old English neb, the face, also nose. When the President's carriage arrives in front of the church, with Albert Hawkins on the box, wearing a big bearskin cape as black as his face, and driving the two big, lumbering "seal browns," there is gathered about the doors of the sanctuary a crowd of two or three hundred, awaiting the arrival of the gentleman whom Tim Campbell, of New York, immortalised himself by speaking of as his nibs.--Chicago Herald.

Hits him where he lives (Ameri

can), goes home, hurts his deepest feelings, wounds him in his domestic relations.

“That,” says the editor, "hits kim whar he lives. That will chase him up as bad as it did when I wrote an article ridicooling his sister, who's got a cock-eye." -Artemus Ward: Things in New York.

Hiss (Winchester College), a

signal of a master's approach. The “cave” or “chucks” of

schoolboys and French vesse. Hit the flat, to (cowboys), to go

out on the prairies. Hitched (American), married.

Literally harnessed. Hitch horses, to (American), to

agree, to draw or pull well to. gether.

I never truckle to any man, if he is as big as all out of doors. After he poked his fist in my face, at one election, we never hitched horses together.-Bartlett. Hitch one's team to the fence, to

(American), to remain for any time in a place.

Hive, to (American cadet), to steal

or “bone"-to take a thing without permission. “To get hived” is to be caught in a scrape.

The Amateur Cadets' Band was hived by the inspecting officer one night "after taps” while they were serenading in bar. racks without permission. As a natural result the entire band was reported and punished and had all their musical instruments confiscated. - The West Point Scrap Book.

(Popular American), to cover up, to entrap. Hived perfectly frigid (American

cadet), said of cadets who, when beyond bounds or otherwise transgressing the academy rules, are caught in flagrante delicto without the least possible chance of escape.

Hivers (American), women or men

who travel with a swarm of prostitutes, generally in the Wild West, with a view to making money by them. Hivite, a student of St. Bee's.

Hoaky-Hocus-pocus.

439

Hoaky, by the (nautical), synony

mous with “ hang it !” Hobbled (thieves), committed for

trial.

was coming, when it was only the butcher preparing to kill him.

Hobbler (nautical), a coast man

of Kent, a bit of a smuggler and an unlicensed pilot, ever ready for a job in either of these occupations. Also a man on land employed in towing a vessel by a rope (Admiral

Smyth). Hobby (university), a translation.

Those who use cribs in translating from the Latin, Greek, and other languages, are said

to ride hobbies. Hob-jobber (street), a man or boy

who loiters about the streets waiting for small jobs, such as holding horses, carrying parcels,

Hock(American), caught. Caught in hock is caught by the heels. The last card in the box. Among thieves a man is in hock when he is in prison, but when one gambler is caught by another smarter than himself and is beat, then he is in hock. Down South (i.e., in the Southern States), men are only put in hock on the race-tracks. In a hock-game, if a man hits a card, he is obliged to let his money lie until it either wins or loses. Of course, there are nine hun. dred and ninety-nine chances against the player, and the oldest man living never yet saw him win, and thus he is caught in hock (New York Slang Dictionary).

The author of this work derives hock clearly enough from the English slang term for a foot. It may be observed, however, that hok in Dutch thieves' slang means credit or debt, which would furnish quite as good a derivation.

&c.

Days came in which there was a hobjobber's famine; no horses to hold, no parcels to carry.—The Goal Cradle. Hobson-Jobson (Anglo-Indian),

a phrase peculiar to the British soldier, by whom it was invented. It is in fact an AngloSaxon version of the wailings of the Mahommedans, as they beat their breasts in the processions of the Moharram : Ya Hasan, ya Hossain! (Anglo.

Indian Glossary). Hob's hog (provincial Northamp

ton). When a person conjectures wrongly, he is compared to Hob's hog, a local story being that the mythical porker in question imagined his breakfast

Hock-dockies (popular), shoes or

boots. Hocker, hākker (gypsy), to jump. Hocus-pocus (now recognised), a

term applied originally to deception of the eye by means of legerdemain, now commonly used for any formula of cheating, delusion, or humbug. Crabb

440

Hocus-pocus—Hog.

That this is sometimes called huckeny pokus or pocus anybody can ascertain by asking the first old gypsy whom he may meet. As a proof of the soundness of this derivation, it may be observed that “hokee - pokee " (which is simply hocus - pocus, without the gypsy noun-terminal), is common and very old slang, used firstly as a magic formula in juggling, and sometimes in any aggregate of unin. telligible words. Hokey-pokee, winkee fum, Flibbidee, flobbidee, buskey bum.

- The King of the Cannibal

Islands.

("Gipsies’ Advocate," p. 18) says that gypsies pronounce habeas corpus, hawcus pacous, a manifest error, as in doing this they simply follow the word for a joke. That it is derived from a burlesque rendering of hoc est corpus in the Latin Churchservice is a mere bit of conjectural philology. In the Romany tongue hoc or hūk is the root signifying deceit or falsehood in a very extended sense. “Quite a little family of words has come into English from the gypsy hoc, hocben, huckaben, hokeny, and hooker, all meaning a lie, deception, and humbug. Mr. Bonar shows us that hocus, to bewitch liquor with an opiate, and hoax are probably from the same root; and I have no doubt that the expression, ‘Yes, with a hook,' meaning “it is false,' comes from the same. 'Hookey' and ‘Walker’are of this family" (“The English Gypsies," p. 81). Hoc therefore means deceit or delusion, and the English gypsy, like many Hindus, adds us in a most arbitrary and irregular manner to any root whatever to make a noun. It is sometimes even affixed to English words, e.J., side-us, a side. This gives hocus, a pure gipsy word. As pocus, it has probably something in common as to its root with “pankey" (vide HANKEY-PANKEY), as a certain sleight-ofhand or "substitution” cheat is called in gypsy huckeny poukee, or huckeny pokee, the lat. ter being the common word.

Hod (American thieves), a mason

or builder. Hod of mortar (rhyming slang),

a pot of porter. Hoe in, to (American University),

to work with vigour, French

piocher. Hog (popular), half-a-crown.

Two bobs and a half equal one hog: Punch.

Old cant for a shilling, also a sixpence.

" Champollion · Figeac, the brother of the famous Champollion, makes in his work on Egypt the following observa. tions: “Also it appears there were (in Egypt) masses of gold bearing another shape than that of the ring, for instance the form of a frog, of a calf, of an ox, and that it had thus become a custom to reckon a particular object as worth so many oxen,

another as so many calves, or so many frogs, meaning thereby certain known weight of gold"

(Leigh Hunt's Journal). Hoga (Anglo-Indian), to work, to

do. “That won't hoga," that won't do. Hog and hominy (American).

Hog is pork, and hominy is maize or Indian corn scalded, so that it is white as rice, to which it bears when boiled a great resemblance. As pork and hominy are the two cheapest articles of food in the United States, the term is very generally used to

express plain, common diet. Hog, hogged (binders), said of

a book which has the back bulging out, from the binding

having given way. Hogminny (old slang), a very

young girl very depraved ; one who makes a free present of her person. From "Hogmena,” Christmas and New Year's presents.

Hogshead, to couch a (old cant),

to lie down, go to sleep. The phrase explains itself, hogshead

being a term for body. Hog, to (American), to cheat,

humbug, to do for, to break. "Go," he said, “go, my son, and hog the public" (he meant “knock 'em "); but the old man was allers a little given to slang). -Artemus Ward: Boston.

This is probably derived from hogged, or broken, as applied to steamboats. It agrees with the Anglo-Indian hoga, to do, but probably by mere acciden

tal coincidence. Hog, to go the whole. So uni

versally used as to be a recognised phrase. To do a thing, good or evil, thoroughly and completely. This term became very common in America about 1834. It was applied to those who approved entirely of General Jackson's measures. It is said to be derived from a story in a poem which was to be found in most American school reading-books, of the declaration of Mahomet that there is a portion of the swine which no true believer should eat. But as they could not agree which part this was among them, the Mussulmans ate up the entire animal,

or “went the whole hog." Ho-gya (Anglo-Indian), used by

Anglo-Indians in the sense of "up a tree,” or of the failure

of any undertaking. Hoisting (thieves). Hotten de

fines this as only shop-lifting.

Hogoo, strong smell. This word,

a corruption of the French haut goût, is given as slang by Hotten and others; but it is to be found in a dictionary, 1748, as a recognised word.

Hogs (American), a term some

times applied in jest to the inhabitants of Chicago. (Old), to drive hogs to market, to snore. I'gad he fell asleep, and snored so loud that we thought he was driving his hogs to market.-Swift: Polite Conversation.

In America the term is applied to a very peculiar kind of robbery. To rob a house two or three men gather together, one of whom stands close to the wall and the next one climbs up so as to stand on his shoulders, while the third does the same. By long practice this can be done with great ease, so that a thief can enter a window ten or even fifteen feet from the ground. This is called the hoist-lay. A hoister means however a shop-lifter as well, and also a sot.

plicated apparatus that I would as soon think of carrying a threshing machine around with me. Then there was the sleeve hold-out, nearly as bad, and the different hold-outs to fasten to the edge of the table.-Star. Hold the stage, to (theatrical),

is said of an experienced actor who is fully at home on the stage, and always commands the attention of the audience. Corresponds to the French phrase, “avoir des planches."

for - nothing, cheated, done. This word seems as regards both meaning and sound to have a relation to the Yiddish orcheporchem, a vagabond, a tramp. It is from "hocus-pocus."

A kind of inferior ice sold in the streets and especially at race meetings amongst the

lower classes. Ho-lan-kwoh (pidgin, Dutch),

“Holland-nation."

Hold up, to (American thieves),

to molest, rob with violence.

Two thieves were caught in New York, ... mistaking two detectives for persons in their own line of business, they invited them to hold up a man.-Bird o' Freedom.

Also to arrest, take in custody.

Didn't I give you fifty dollars for leaving my place alone when it was on your beat? You can't hold me up now.--Bird o' Freedom.

Hold, do you (London slang),

have you any money to lend or

stand treat with ? Hold-out (cardsharpers), the vest

hold-out, sleeve hold-out. Explained by quotation.

The old-time poker sharp was not well equipped unless he had a vest hold-out. That was a black satin vest with claws inside that came out of the bosom, seized the necessary cards, and slid it in again. It was worked by a chain that ran down the trousers leg and hooked to the heel of the boot, and was such a clumsy and com

Hold your horses (American), an

injunction not to go too far, or
say too much.
Oh, hold your hosses, will you,
And do not drive so fast!

-Song of 1850. Hole (printers). According to

Moxon, 1683, a private printingoffice, where unlicensed books were printed, was called a hole. The term would apply at the present day to a "cock-robin" shop. (Turf), to be in a hole is to lose or be defeated. Vide IN A HOLE.

Hole and corner (popular), plot

ting conspiracy. The metaphor is obvious — conspirators are 443

· Hole-Hoodlum.

compelled to do their plotting in holes and corners. “I will have none of this hole and corner business," said the proprietor of a great Australian journal to the new editor enter. ing office. “No more picking out the weeds of a work to quote them as the flowers: I wish all the criticisms in my paper to be fair, square, and above ground.'"-Anthony Trollope. Hollis (Winchester School, a

smooth round stone. Hollow (common), “to beat hol

low," to surpass, to be far

superior. Holus-bolus (nautical), the neck,

the head; in a hurry, helter.

skelter. Holy Joe (prison and nautical),

the chaplain or any religious

person. Holy land (thieves), the thieves'

quarter in St. Giles. Home (turf), the status quo ante

of the better. When a man recovers his previous losses he "gets home” on the day, the week, or the year, as the case may be. Strange to say this barren result is usually regarded by the achiever thereof with greater pride than the apparently more desirable process of winning. Home bird (common), a man lead.

ing a very retired life, fond of his fireside ; a milksop. French

chauffe-la-couche. Ho-ming (pidgin), Reuters' Tele

gram Company is so termed in the Shanghai Directory.

Homo-opathise (American), to get

bills, i.e., petitions for anything, through the Legislature, or Congress, or a City Council, by means of bills, i.e., bank-bills. This application of similia similibus is unfortunately a rule of practice, with few exceptions, especially in the Legislatures, when a bill is brought forward which has "anything in it," i.e.,

any money. Honest Injun (American), a phrase

equivalent to “honour bright.” It is often heard among boys as a pledge of faith.

She says, “Honest Injun, now hain't you been telling me a lot of lies?” “Honest Injun," says I. – The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Honey (rhyming slang), money. Hong-hahng (pidgin and Anglo.

Indian), hahng in Chinese means a row or rank, a house of business. It is particularly ap. plied to trading establishments, foreign or native. The latter were the so-called hony merchants who had the monopoly of foreign trade. This monopoly was abolished in 1842.

A society of hong or united merchants who are answerable for one another, both to the Government and to foreign nations. -Sir G. Staunton : Embassy to China. Honour bright (common), on my

honour. Hoodlum (American), a vagabond

or rough, a loafer. It was for a long time a Californian word, and is probably of Spanish origin. It may possibly be the pidgin

English, hood lahnt, good, i.e., very lazy ; lahnt'o, Mandarin.

Two hoodlums knocked down and nearly killed an aged priest in the streets of Ver. sailles, France, the other day.-Chicago Tribune.

In San Francisco hoodlums are a class of young fools, corresponding in some degree to the English 'Arries. The hoodlums walk the streets arm in arm, upsetting everything in their passage “just for the sake of a

lark.” Hoodman (London slang), blind,

drunk.

“Yes," he said, explaining with some amount of regret his curious behaviour of the night before ; "but haven't you noticed that whenever I am a little hoodman I in. variably go on in that way?"

“Well, I can't say that I have," was the straightforward answer of the candid friend.

“Why not?"

"Because I have never seen you a little hoodman. I have always seen you so ballyhooly blind that- '

Several bystanders left on the spot with. out paying for their drinks.-Sporting Times. He had shunted a quantum of whisky

immense, But that hoodman he was he denied ; Though he cast on the lamp-post a look

so “intense" That it inight have been meant for his

bride. They passed over this, but when fivers

galore To the Tealeaf he offered to lend, That he really was boozed, to a man they

all swore, Had appeared sure enough in the end !

-Bird o' Freedom.

magic or secrecy practised among the blacks.

"Laps," said Mrs. Potter, laying her hand on my shoulder, “I'm hoodoooed as sure as eggs are eggs. I've been training to do that death all summer, and I had a new play written to lead up to it, and now Lil has gone and gobbled my business." New York Morning Journal. Hoof it, to (thieves), to run away. Hoof one's bum, to (common), to

kick one in the lower part of

the back. Hook (popular and thieves), a

pickpocket.

Take my tip and turn square, from a hook who is going to be lagged, would be, in common parlance, take my advice and get you living honestly, says a pickpocket, who is expecting penal servitude.-W.J. Horsley : Jottings from Jail.

Probably derived from hooking an article out by the fingers, which thence are called hooks. Or an abbreviation of hooker, old cant for a thief who steals things hanging up in shops by removing them with a hook. Stealing by means of a hook is still practised by a class of French thieves, who call it "vol au boulon" (vide Barrère's Argot and Slang). The French popu. lar slang has croc (hook) for a thief, though Littré is inclined to believe this is a contraction of escroc (swindler). The an. cient “ hooker” was also called “angler," which corresponds to the Italian cant pescator, a thief, literally, a fisherman. Thus the literal hook has served as a metaphor for the English hook, hooker, angler, the French

Hoodooed (American), voudooed,

i.e., killed, done for, used up; voudou, a term applied to the

croc, and the Italian pescator. The German cant has höcken, to lie, deceive, swindle, from the gypsy, though some derive it from höcken, to higgle, retail ; höke, a higgler, huckster, which may be traced to hake, a hook, pedlars and porters on the continent using a contrivance for carrying their burdens, termed crochets (hooks) in French, hence crocheteur, a porter.

(Popular), a hook, a catch, an advantage; to take one's hook.

Vide Hook, TO SLING ONE'S. Hooka-burdar (Anglo-Indian), a

servant whose sole duty it was to take care of the master's pipe. As the hookah is now a thing of the past, the burdar has also passed away with it into the obsolete, so far as the

pipe is concerned. Hook and eye (tailors), walking

arm in arm. Hooker (old cant), a thief who

used to steal articles from shops by means of a hook.

I will take my prince's part against all that shall oppose him, or any of us, according to the best of my ability; nor will I suffer him, or any one belonging to us, to be abused by any strange abrams, ruffies, hookers.-Bampfylde Moore Carew: Eng. lish Gypsies' Oath.

(American), a woman of easy virtue, generally one who plies her trade on the streets.

you!” Many origins have been ascribed to this term, which naturally explains itself by its connection with "hook it,” i.e.,

"go away," and " walk away." Hooking cow (West American),

a cow that will show fight, and try to toss the cowboys who are seeking to “cut her out" from the herd. From the English “to hook," said of an ox which tosses one.

One of the former was what is termed a hooking cow, and to escape her repeated charges tested all our agility.-F. Francis : Saddle and Moccasin. Hook it, to (common), to run

away. Vide Hook, TO SLING ONE'S. “You hain't been home since the mornin -not since you hooked it away?" Jerry's voice was tremulous with excitenient as he asked the question.

“No, I've been away all day."- The Little Ragamuffins.

It has been suggested that it is derived from the gypsy hokka or hekka, hurry away, hasten.

Hook, on one's own (common),

on one's own account or re. sponsibility.

The tale runs that a scientific gentleman has been examining his wife's out-door jacket after each excursion, and has care. fully collected every loose hair which he has found thereon.-Society.

Dependent for a living on one's own resources or exertions. Originally American.

Supplied me with physic whenever I wanted it, and accustomed me to a life of organised laziness—and yet at the end of this time they turn me out to get my living on my own hook.-Evening News.

Hookey Walker (popular), go away! be off! Also an ejaculation of incredulity synony. mous with “get along with

To his clies my hooks I throw in,

Tol, lol, &c.,
And collar his dragons clear away.

-W. Maginn : Vidoca's Slang Song.

(Common), "gone off the hooks,” dead. Death wandered by the sea,

And struck by Walton's looks,
Broke Isaac's line of life
And took him “off the hooks."

-Punch

What, loose several days in Londonon your own hook and free to wander, and with no one to puriect you?-). Green wwood: Dick Temple.

Possibly from the thieves' phrase to hook, to steal, thieving and getting a living being with them synonymous; or from hook, a catch, so that on one's own hook would mean literally, living on what one catches. It may also be derived from an allusion to a meat hook, metaphorically meaning larder, store. French authors have certainly used it with that signification, and the French have the expression (not slang) “avoir à son croc,” to have in store; " vivre aux crochets de quelqu'un,” to be dependent on another for one's living, to live at his expense, and the obsolete“ dîner sur ses crochets,” to pay for one's own dinner.

Again, it has been suggested that on one's own hook is from a metaphor drawn from the practice of the fish-curers on the Eastern coasts, who hang up the herrings and haddocks to dry in

the sun. Hookem snivey, an impostor who

feigns sickness, disease, or calamity, and exhibits his miseries in the streets to excite pity and charity. From to hook, and snivelling, or possibly from the

gypsy hookaben, a cheat. Hooks (thieves), fingers. Termed

also “forks.” With his smeller a trumpet blowing, A regular swell cove lushy lay,

An allusion to a gate off its hinges. Compare with the old English phrase, “to be off the hooks," to be out of temper, vexed. French, “ sortir de ses gonds,” and “to put off the

hooks," to vex, make angry. Hook shop (American), a brothel,

“ hooker” being a prostitute. Much used by English residents in China. Possibly a corruption of "hock shop.” The English and French slangs have the corresponding “buttocking shop"

and “ magasin de fesses." Hook, to sling one's (popular),

to depart, leave, run away ; sling is a provincialism for to cast away, so that the phrase means literally “take your hook off," "let go your hold.”

Hook, to take one's (common),

to depart, leave, run away.

A Strange TIME-KEEKER. - Landlord (to old toper, who has come to the front door, and is gazing iniently at an equestrian statue in the square): "I say, what do you keep coming to the door for!" “I want to see if it's time to take my hook." “But how can you see that?" “When that horse begins to prance, then it's high time."-Tit Bits.

Possibly an abbreviation of “take your hook off," that is, let go your hold, or the allusion being to a boat's hook which a man would naturally be told to take off as a signal for departure. This supposition is strengthened by the synonymous expression to “sling one's hook," which see.

Hook, with a (common), used in

this phrase to imply doubt or some reservation referring to an assertion; “yes, with a hook at the end of it.” Dr. Brewer has “ with a hook at the end, you suppose I assent, but my assent is not likely to be given. The subject has a hook, or note of interrogation (?), to denote that it is dubious."

“There is a gypsy story that a Romany had permission from a gentleman to fish in his pond, on condition that he should only use a hook. But the gypsy used a net, and emptied the pond of fish. On being asked what kind of a hook he had used, he replied: • It was what we call in our language a hookaben,' i.e., a lie or a cheat. Hook is here the root, aben or apen simply indicating a noun" (C. G. Leland).

Bartlett cites from the Provi. dence Journal a story which has the appearance of being an after-manufacture to suit the name, deriving hoosier from “husher," “ from their primary capacity to still their opponents.” He also asserts that the Kentuckians maintained that the nickname expresses the exclamation of an Indianian when he knocks at a door and exclaims “ who's yere ?” However, the word originally was not hoosier at all, but hoosieroon or hoosheroon, hoosier being an abbreviation of this. I can remember that in 1834, having read of hoosiers, and spoken of them, a boy from the West corrected me, and said that the word was properly hoosieroon. This would indicate a Spanish origin (Charles G. Leland). Ofttimes when travelling in the West, The stranger finds a hoosier's nest; In other words a buck-eye cabin, Just large enough to put Queen Mab in.

Hooter (American), a comparative

for anything worthless or trifling. Bartlett conjectures that it is a corruption of iota, which is also commonly used in New England in a similar manner. Ah, Billy, you and your sword - cane can't do a hooter among the girls, fine as you think yourself.-- Philadelphia Comic Newspaper.

Hooky, to do (popular), the ap

plication of the thumb and fin.

gers to the nose in contempt. Hoop (American thieves), a

ring. Hoosier (American), a nick.

name given to natives of Indiana.

Hooting pudding (provincial),

plum pudding so scantily furnished with raisins that they are sarcastically said to hoot at one another.

H.O.P. (popular), hop; on the

hop, unawares.
Oh, he's tricky, very tricky,
His conduct's very often rather slicky,
He never lets folks catch him on the

H.O.P. Oh, he's clicky, and he's quicky, and he's tricky.

-Broadside Ballad. Hop (common), a small ball,

though often used in reference to any kind of ball. Formerly “to hoppe" signified to dance.

I remember last Christmas, at a little hop at the Park, he danced from eight o'clock till four.-Miss Austen : Sense and Sensibility.

Said to be of American origin. The New York Herald once, if not many times, published ac counts of the particular and unfashionable balls given in that city under the heading or caption of “Hop Intelligence.” Hop for any kind of dance is, however, provincial English.

(Pidgin), half. “My giveecumshaw hop-dolla, supposey you make dat Ink-i-lis man wailo to look-see my shop.” Hop, have, or has. While a Chinese is in the first stage of pidgin-English, as set forth in that primary work, the Chinese “Vocabulary of the Words in Use among the Red-Haired People,” he uses hop, and in time advances to hab. In this work hop-fasze is given for have fashion (hab fasson at a more advanced stage), i.e., fashionable. Hop-pi-tsin (hab pidgin) means have business; hop-tai (hab die), dead; and hoptime (hab time), leisure.

Hop and go kick (tailors), one

who walks lame. Hop merchant (common), a

dancing-master. Hopped over the broom (popu

lar), married or run away to. gether. From an old belief that a marriage was legal if the bride and bridegroom stepped

or hopped over a broom.
“ The girl that I had hoped to hear,

Pronounce my happy doom, sir,
Had bolted with a carpenter,
In fact, hopped o'er the broom, sir."
- David Dove: A Ballad by L, M,

Thornton.
Hopper (sporting), to go a hopper,

to go at a fast pace.

The latter is a filly out of Effie Deans, and with two such smart parents she ought to be able to go a hopper.-The County Gentleman.

(Anglo-Indian), a colloquial term in Southern India for rice cakes. Tamil, appam. Appas, called hoppers by the English, supply their morning repast.---Tennent: Ceylor. Hopping giles (provincial), a

cripple. St. Giles was the pat

ron saint of cripples. Hoppo(pidgin), the Chinese Super

intendent of Customs at Canton. Giles says, " The term is said to be a corruption of hoo poo, the Board of Revenue" (Anglo-In.

dian Glossary). Hop the Charlie, to (common), to

decamp. Hop the twig, to (common), to

die. Like a bird which drops from its perch.

Hora-Horse-godmother.

449

Horse collar (old), to die in a

horse collar or nightcap, to be hanged. (Tailors), an extremely long and wide collar.

Horse coppers (American). This

term is specially applied to men who cheat people by selling broken-down, but once firstclass horses.

The English mode of execution divides itself into two branches, on both of which the victims must hop the twig.-Diprose : Laugh and Learn. Hora (gypsy), an hour, a watch. Horn (American). “Yes, in a

horn." This is uttered as an expression of disbelief or refusal. “In a hog's horn," as hogs have no horns. An abbreviation of an old West of England phrase, “In a horn when the devil is blind.” “I'll give it you in a horn,” i.e., I shall not give it you, possibly alluding to the impossibility of keeping anything in a horn open at both ends, or to the wind blown out of a horn.

Horn, a dram, a glass of spirits. The word dates from the times when horns rather than glasses were used for the purpose. It is almost obsolete in Eng. land, but common in America. He poured out a glass of brandy and water. Oh, gummy, what a horn it was. It was strong enough to throw an ox over a five-barred gate.--Sam Slick. Horness (American thieves), a

watchman. Hornswoggle, to (American), to

humbug, delude, seduce, &c. (English provincial), swokel, de.

ceitful; swodgel, futuere. Horrors (society), delirium tre

mens. Derived from the fits of horror of imaginary things men

have in that condition. And Mostyn-poor Frank Mostyn--died at last a fearful wreck, In the horrors at the upper Wandinong.

-Lyndsey Gordon : Poems.

Horse editor (American). In the

United States not only the manager or proprietor and director of a newspaper is called an editor, but also all who write for it, the chief reporter being “the city editor," and the reviewer "the literary editor," while the gentleman who furnishes the sporting news is sometimes facetiously termed the horse editor. There is also the real or imaginary “fighting editor,” who is supposed to be a man who “strikes from the shoulder" and sits surrounded by revolvers and hunting knives. According to Puck, even the porter of an American newspaper shares the glory of "edi. torialism." The writer in fact knows an instance in which the janitor of an American journal, when in a rural community, received much attention and honour as being “connected

with the press. Horse flesh (printers), an ancient

term, according to Moxon, for

“dead horse," which see. Horse-godmother (common pro. vincial), a fat vulgar virago, a

very masculine woman, quite of the lowest class. In woman angel sweetness let me see, No galloping horse-godmother for me.

-Wolcot (Peter Pindar).

Horse protestant (tailors), a

churchman.

Horse-shoe (common), the puden

dum f. In the earliest Oriental mythologies, all that indicated fruitfulness, impregnation, love, &c., was regarded as opposed to the evil principle which sought to cause barrenness. Hence in many countries, not only the images of the pallus and of the female organ were worn as charms, but also everything which in any way resembled them, such as a horn, a perforated stone, a ring, a snail. shell, &c. Among these symbols the horse-shoe occupies a conspicuous place. Hence the belief that it forms an amulet, and that it is lucky to find one. In German the phrase “Sie hat ein Hufeisen verloen" (she has lost a horse-shoe) is equivalent to saying that a girl has been seduced.

Horse, the old (prison), for Horse

monger Lane Gaol, built at the suggestion of John Howard,

closed 1878. Horsey (common) applies to men

who are great lovers of the horse or who affect a turf appearance and conversation. Also to articles of dress which in cut. and style recall those of turfites or persons whose occupations

are connected with the horse. Hospital sheep (up-country

Australian), sheep suffering from some contagious disease which necessitates their removal from the rest.

They had passed some miles back a small gunyah and yard temporarily occupied by a flock of hospital sheep, shipheaded by an old black gin.-d. C. Grant: Bush Life in Queensland.; Hoss (American, Western), a

brave, excellent man.

"Well, old fellow, you're a hoss" is a Western expression which has grown into a truism as regards Judge Allen, and a finer specimen of a Western judge, to use his constituents' language, "ain't no whar." ... They consider him one of the people, none of your stuck-up imported chaps from the dandy states, but a real genuine Westerner-in short, a hoss. – Americans at Home. Hoss-fly (American), “old hoss

fly," a familiar form of expression, such as “Well, old boy!” in England. It is of course a variation of "horse,” as meaning a man.

Says I, “ Billson, yer hav'n't got a well-balanced mind." Says he, “Yes, I have, old hoss.fly (he was a low cuss) yes, I have. I have a mind that balances in any direction that the public rekires.' - Artemus Ward: Tks Prince of Wales.

Horse-teeth (American), a man

with horse - teeth is one that grasps, grabs at, or gains what he aims at. “Who is that?" I asked of my friend Fisher, as we passed a marked-looking man on the street the other day.

“That?" responded Fisher. “Why, that is So-and-so; great man and full of money. Got horse-teeth. That's the kind of man to succeed here."- Detroit Free Press.

Hot(popular), exuberant in spirits,

rowdy, full of extravagance and fun, "a warm one.” A hot 'un, a fast man or woman. One who goes the pace.

She's what Shakspeare might call "a pure, unadulterated, red-hot, clinking scorcher." She's so hot that when she takes a walk out in November all the coal merchants shut up shop, fancying it is June. - Music Hall Song: Why don't you be steady, Maria.

(Society), a hot member of society is a man or woman who does not much care what he or she does, and sets most rules of decorum and morality on one side.

(Thieves), to give hot beef, vide BEEF. Hot coppers. Vide COPPERS. Hottentot (popular), a fool, a

simpleton. Hottentots (East London), ex

plained by quotation. All this vast audience was purely local. Our advent, though our attire was a special get-up for the occasion, attracted instant attention, and the cry of Hottentots went round. Hottentots is the playful way in this district of designating a stranger, that is to say, a stranger come from the West. --George R. Sims: How the Poor Live. Hot tiger (Oxford), a mixture

of hot-spiced ale and sherry

(Hotten). Hot, to make it (common), to make it highly disagreeable.

The smaller youth is sent out of Court with a caution, but retribution, or stern justice, or Nemesis, makes it hot for the weeping lad. - The Graphic. Hounslow Heath (rhyming

slang), the teeth.

House-farmers, house-knackers

popular), a variety of the “sweater" tribe. Persons who let bad lodgings at a high rent

to the poor. Housemaid's knee (medical), a

swelling over the knee-pan, due to the enlargement of a bursal sac which normally

occupies that position. House, the (Oxford University),

Christ Church, Oxford. (Stock Exchange), the Stock Exchange. “The probable origin of the word house, as applied to the Stock Exchange, is as follows:-Previous to 1801, when the jobbers and brokers (in Government securities) assembled, for a short period, in the Rotunda of the Bank of England, a room was rented in a house facing Bartholomew Lane. When a member was not to be found in the Rotunda it was said “he is over at the house.' At a later period, when the members moved into their own building, house now became a recognised term, which has continued in use until the present day” (Atkin's “House

Scraps "'). Hoveller (nautical), a beach thief. How d'ye do (popular), a regular

how d’ye do, a regular row all round. A regular mess or diffi

culty. Howler, to go a (sporting), to

lose heavy bets. Howling (common), great; as in

a howling swell, a kouling cad.

452

Hoxter—Humming.

There was a howling crush going on outside the Law Courts.-Sporting Times.

llowling bags, a swell pair of trousers.

Dere's more stories dat dey tell den you can find in de dime novels. Say, you fellows would be 'spired to hear about 'Liger going right up t'rough de clouds in a chariot of fire, wid no balloon, no nothin'. 'Liger just got in his chariot, cut 'er loose, and flew. Dat's wot kind of a huckleberry 'Liger was. And, remember, dis was thousands of years ago, before dere was any balloons."—Bird o' Freedom. Hue, to (thieves), to belabour with

a cudgel. Huey (old cant), a town, a vil

lage. Hugger mugger (nautical), in its

Shakspearian bearing may have meant secretly, or in a clandes. tine manner, but its nautical application is to express any. thing out of order or done in a slovenly way.

Hoxter (thieves), an inside pocket.

Old English oxter. No slourd hoxter my snipes could stay. -Ainsworth. (Royal Military Academy),

itary Academy), extra drill, a corruption of extra,

The hoxter consists in the painful ordeal of being compelled to turn out of bed at an early hour, and march up and down under the watchful eye of a corporal.-Albert Barrère : Argot and Slang

. Hubble-bubble, the Indian pipe,

termed a “ hookah," is thus designated, from the noise it makes when being smoked

(Hotten). Hubby (common), husband.

Item, one fair daughter, yclept Lara. Mrs. S. has great faith in her worthy hubby, and knows his book by heart.Modern Society. You may happen on the pier, at Brighton

or elsewhere, To stumble on a tart you think is

tame; And if you should accost her, and her

acquaintance foster, I really fail to see how you're to blame. Should she ask you out to tea, why a

Juggins you would be The friendly invitation to ignore. But your danger you'll perceive, should

you when you turn to leave Come across her hubby at the door.

-Bird o' Freedom. Huckleberry (American), jest

ingly used to mean a person or subject. “That is a huckleberry above me,” that beats me. “Dat's cheatin'," said 'Johnny. “I'se going to stay wid 'em till I graduate.

Hum-box(popular), a pulpit. Hum

is to cajole, deceive. Well, you parish bull prig, are you for lushing Jacky, or pattering in the humbox?-Lytton : Pelham.

Hummer (popular), a swaggerer.

“Isn't she a swell?"

A dashing young woman in gorgeous raiment went sailing by like a cutter in a thirty-mile-an-hour breeze. The sun shone down upon her and sent out from her magnificent diamond earrings and the mass of beads that covered her head and shoulders a thousand hues.

“C'rect, Cholly ; she's a hummer!" said the first speaker's friend.–St. Louis Globe Democrat.

Humming, given by Hotten and

others as a slang term, is a provincialism meaning strong as applied to drink, and heady, in which latter sense it explains itself.

Hump-Ignoramus.

453

Hump (common), to have the

hump, to be low-spirited, distressed, mortified, alluding to the attitude of one who is cast down.

Break! break! break!
O ball on thy way to the stump.:

So let's alter the law,

Without any more jaw, Or you'll give an old buffer the hump..

- Fred Gale : The Game of Cricket.

“To have one's hump up," to be cross like a cat with its back set up. To hump is a provincialism meaning to grumble, and is used in the slangy sense of to spoil. In America to hump oneself is to prepare promptly for an attack.

Hums (old cant), the congrega

tion in a church. Hunker (American), one opposed

to progress in politics, one op

posed to progress in general. Hunks. This word is given by

Hotten and others as a slang term, but it is a recognised pro

vincialism, meaning a miser. Hunky (American), good, jolly;

everything went off hunky," went off well. Hunt, in the (popular), regarded as

admitted to a circle or society. “He is in the hunt,” he is one of us. Although we isn't aristocrats, we hold a quid or two, and are considered in the hunt. -Sam Waghorn: The Merry Sandboy. Hunting (thieves), card-sharping. Hurkaru (Anglo-Indian), a mes

clame Lanola Indianım senger. Husband's tea (popular), weak

tea.

Hump the swag, to (Australian),

to carry one's luggage on one's back.

Aud you may often have to hump your own swag, for the able-bodied fellows who are standing about are probably too well off to care to earn your shilling.-C. T.: Impressions of Australia (Blackwood's Magasine).

I am not here (tailors), I don't

feel inclined to work ; or, I wish to be left alone. Ictus (legal), a lawyer. A cor

ruption of juris consultus. Idea pot (thieves), the head; also

called “knowledge-box.” I desire (rhyming slang), a fire. If not, why not? (American), a

peculiar colloquial expression,

as “Will you tako a drink-if not, why not?” Personal-Has it ever occurred to you that there is a combination of the brains," "the men,” and “the money too” at 159 Washington Street? If so, don't you think that it would be to your interest to call round and have some talk with Bowyer, the expert in circular advertising? If not, why not ?--Chicago Tribune. Ignoramus Jury (old cant), for

merly a slang name for a Grand Jury. When a bill was ignored, 454

Ignoramus—I'll have.

pass which will enable a man to cat his own head in the event of his being so disposed, Mr. Grimwig's head was such a particularly large one that the most sanguine man alive could hardly entertain a hope of being able to get through it at a sitting, to put entirely out of the ques. tion a very thick coating of powder.Dickens : Oliver Twist.

instead of writing across it "No true bill.” the Latin word igno. ramus, we do not know, was employed-hence the saying in question. “ If you find that anything proceeds from envy and malice, and not of due prosecution, you may acquit the person that is so wrongfully prosecuted, and so justice is done between party and party, so an Ignoramus Jury may not

be of no use.” I guess it's all turkey (Ameri

can), a quaint saying indicating that all is equally good. It is said that an old gentleman who was asked at a Thanksgiving dinner if he preferred the white meat or dark of the standard dish, replied, “I don't care which ; I guess it's all turkey." Ikey (popular), a Jew; a corrup

tion of Isaac. Also said of any one who thinks himself knowing, smart, and has a great

opinion of himself. I'll eat my head (popular), vari.

ants. “I'll eat my hat” (some erroneously think hat here is a corruption of heart); “I'll eat my boots,” “my head," &c. A boastful promise - an unmeaning way of expressing something impossible of achievement. Mr. Grimwig in “Oliver Twist" backed and confirmed nearly every assertion he made with this handsome offer.

It was the more singular in his case because, even admitting, for the sake of argument, the possibility of scientific improvements being ever brought to that

Illegitimate (racing), an absurd

formula used by the sporting press as a synonym for steeplechasing, hurdle - racing, and hunters' flat-races. Previous to the establishment of the Grand National Hunt Committee, these sports were unregulated by any code of law, and unrecognised by any racing tribunal, and were then properly regarded as illegitimate. They are now, however, as much under rules as flat-racing; nevertheless the term illegitimate continues to be applied to them though it has lost its force or significance.

Illegitimate season, also called the dead season, viz., the time between the weeks which includes the 22nd November in one year, and that which includes the 25th of March in the year following. No races under Newmarket rules are allowed during this period, which is obviously the most suitable for the other or so-called illegitimate branch of racing.

I'll have your gal! (street slang),

a cry raised by street boys ol roughs when they see a fond couple together. In like manner, in small theatres in Paris, the pit will raise a cry of “Il

I'll have—Improvers.

455

l'embrassera!” when a man and woman are sitting together apart from others. I proffered and she took my arm, Which I thought would be refused; I'll have your gal! the urchins cried. At which I felt amused. --Ballad: The Thames Embankment.

I'll have your hat (street cry).
There is a cry that drives me wild
Which is, I'll have your hat!
I'll have your hat! I'll have your hat!
Will be the death of me, that's flat,
It makes me feel so nervous that,
Whene'er they cry, I'll have your hat!

-Broadside Ballard.

I'll tell you a story of old Mother Morey (American), said sarcastically of a narrative which has nothing in it. From a very old nursery rhyme repeated to chil. dren when they are importunate to be told a story.

I'U tell you a story
Of old Mother Morey,

And now my story's begun
I'll tell you another,
About her brother,

And now my story is done.

Used politely in accepting or

asking a civility. Immediately sooner, if not before

(American), a made-up phrase,

heard occasionally among boys. Immense (American), excellent,

or extremely good. Such and such a person is said to be an “immense fellow,” or liquor is advertised as immense, or a tailor notifies that he is “immense on pants," and a dressmaker that she is “ immense on skirts,” though she does not boast of being " immense in her

charges.” Imp. The imp is the devil of the devil, or attorney-general's devils. There are many of them, and have no position whatever in the law. They only “ devil,” or get up cases for the junior counsel to the Treasury, though in doing this they often contrive to get work for themselves as well; thus there are many devils

in the law. Impo. or impos. (schools), abbre

viation for imposition. At Cheltenham College both masters

and boys call this an “impot.” Impost-taker (American thieves),

a man who lends money to thieves and gamblers, or prostitutes, at very high rates of

interest. Improvers (trade), young men

learning a business, and who enter into employment chiefly with a view to qualify themselves for work. Vide BUSTLE.

Illumina (Winchester College), an

abbreviation for "illumination." On the last Sunday night in “Short Half” before Grass Court was thrown open, candles were planted in temples or niches cut in Mead's wall. In this consisted the illumina. This is now done in “Short Half," and the effect is enhanced by

a blazing bonfire. I'm afloat (rhyming slang), a boat. Im-koy (pidgin Cantonese), 'not

ought, i.e., you should not.

456

I'm something-Infantry.

In this establishment no juniors or improvers are kept, and all the medicines are prepared by the proprietor himself, and by a thoroughly competent assistant. -Advertisement of a Chemist in Westgate-on-the-Sea.

in it,” according to the view and judgment of the speaker. The same terms are used during

the progress of a race. In a skiffle (tailors), in a great

hurry. In a tin-pot way (popular), in a

small, inferior, trifling manner.

I light my long pipe and I sit up in bed, and don't we enjoy ourselves in our own tin-pot way?- Wm. Barnes: Boozing Bil.

I'm something of a liar myself

(American). It is said that a certain gentleman who was given to narrating extraordinary experiences, having on one occasion told a very re. markable incident of travel, then turned to a Scotchman who was present and asked him if he was not astonished. “Na, na," replied the Scot, “ I'm na that-I'm something of a leear mysel'.” This saying has become of late (1887) extremely popular in the United States, and is repeated without mercy among "the ruder sort" whenever any one is suspected of playing Munchausen.

In (common), to be in with one,

to be even with him, or be on intimate terms with him. In for it, in trouble or difficulty. (American), to be in it, a phrase expressive of taking an interest - pecuniary, personal, or mental-in anything. Like “I'm on it,” “ I'm in it," signifying that I have a part in the subject.

I won't listen to your noncents no longer. Jest say rite strate out what you're drivin at. If you mean gettin hitched, I'm in.Artemus Ward.

A horse on publication of a handicap is said, in describing his prospective chance, to be in it, “not in it," or "right bang

In deep water (American), in

pecuniary difficulties or in trouble.

From the statement of Mr. West's attor. ney it would seem that Elder has been in deep water for several months. His real estate was mortgaged for $5000.-Chicago Tribune. Indescribables (society), trousers. Indian mess (American), the mix.

ing and eating all kinds of

food. Individualise, to (American), to

identify a person, to indicate any one. No lady of refinement uses perfume to excess. A delicate suggestion of an odour is a pretty way of individualising one, provided too many do not use the same perfume.-Detroit Tribune.

One may hear in the United States or read in the newspapers that persons are “individual in their orders," or habits, i, e.,

peculiar. Inexpressibles (society), a sham

modest expression for trousers. Infantry (popular), children. The

French have the slang expres

sion, "entrer dans l'infanterie,” to become pregnant. Light

infantry, fleas. Infa'r (American), a wedding fes

tivity, feast, or party. Bre'r Rabbit got one ev de gals, en dey had a weddin' en a big infa'r.- Uncle Remus. In for patter (thieves), awaiting

trial. Vide PATTER. In for pound (thieves), committed

for the assizes. In good shape (American, and

well known in England), to be “ in good shape" is to be quite correct. In Good Shape.-The total indebtedness of the City of Deadwood falls below $6000.-American Newspaper. In his kish (tailors), quite at home

and pleased. In his shell (tailors), not in a

talking mood, sulky, or com

pelled to retire. Iniquity - Office (American), in

quiry offices or bureaux which
advertise to find employment
for governesses, servants, &c.,
and obtain situations for them
on condition of receiving from
twenty to thirty per cent. of
their first year's wages. Such
“affairs ” are common in Lon-
don, and many are even worse

than the worst in New York. Injun here! (American), a phrase

often used jocosely when a man asserts that he has remained true to his principles. It is said that an Indian when lost

in the woods and unable to find his wickee or wigwam, struck an attitude and exclaimed, " Injun no lost. Wickee lost-Injun

here!" Ink-e-li (pidgin), English; Man.

darin, ying-kuo. Inkslinger (common), a clerk, a

journalist or reporter. Edmund Yates went to see and partially eat at the Newspaper Press Fund Dinner; and thereat the majority of the toasts devolved on Lord Chrief Justice Coleridge, who is not overburdened with reason for liking Edmund, who was to respond for the inkslingers. -Sporting Times. Inky (tailors), a reply given to a

question it is not desirable to answer. “Who told you that tale ?” “ Inky." Slopcutter's term. Also used among booksellers, printers, &c., as an eva

sive answer. Innocent (American thieves), a

corpse, an idiot, or a convict. Inside (pidgin-English), within,

in, interior, heart, mind, soul, in the country. “You belongey smart inside,” you are intelligent. A Chinese, many years ago, on being shown a picture of a locomotive, at once remarked, “Hab got too much plenty all-same inside," we have many such in the interior of China. On one occasion a Chinese said “Hab got one piecee man, one piecee girly room-inside." Room-inside means within. Inside he mouth (pidgin-English),

secretly in his mind, to himself,

458

Inside - Interviewer.

reserved. “Inside he heart"

has the same meaning. Inside squatter (Australian up

country), a squatter (q. v.) in a settled district, used in the wilder parts of Australia, the north of New South Wales, the northern territory, and especi. ally Queensland. Inside squatters are those who reside within the margin of settlements, as distinguished from "pioneer" or "outside squatters.”

Stations were formed for nearly a hun. dred and fifty miles outside John's Run, and he began to regard himself as quite an inside squatter. His neighbours greatly assisted him in keeping his cattle together, turning them back and sending over notice whenever they were discovered making away; and, in like manner, he performed the same good office for them. Things soon began to wear quite a settled look.-A. C. Grant. Institution (American). Bartlett

calls this a flash word of recent introduction as applied to any prevalent practice or thing. But it was so common as to attract the notice of Dickens on his first visit to the United States, since he made Martin Chuzzlewit inquire if spitting was an American institution. Instruct out to (American),

originally and strictly “to remove from office, as a Member of Congress by instructions from a State Legislature" (Bartlett); popularly, to turn out in almost any way, especially by appeal to a higher authority. If you don't git out of this place, you young pollution, afore to-morrow mornin',

I guess you'll be instructed to evaporate from the boss himself—and he'll make it as hot for you as a Fourth Ward Meet: ing.–How Silas Greenstick got to Congress. Interviewer (American), a term which began to come into general use about 1880, or earlier. It was applied to the visiting eminent (or any other) persons, by the reporters of newspapers, for the purpose of extracting information from them. Interviewing in the United States was developed into an art before the term crossed the water to England. But now the French journalists send their men to interview politicians. At the recent Missouri Democratic Convention, each interviewer from the St. Louis Globe-Democrat wore a badge of white satin pinned to the coat lapel with a silver star, and bearing this legend :GLOBE-DemocraT INTERVIEWING CORPS.

"I'll call thee Hamlet, King, Father, Royal Dane. Oh, answer

me, Let me not burst in ignorance." As he finished with his victim, each interviewer handed him a check, which he put in his hat-band, and thus evaded any further bother with the reporters. These checks were inscribed as follows:

PUMPED. Keep this check in your hat, and you will not be again disturbed by a reporter.

-Chicago Tribune. This is what in American parlance may be called bringing interviewing “down to a fine

point.”

I returned to the United States after eleven years' absence, and found that many new things had sprung up during the time. One of these was "interviewing," which had been developed “to a high note,"

as I soon experienced. I was hardly at home before a young man came to take my portrait in writing. Oddly enough he was "on" a newspaper of which I had been managing editor for three years. Finding him clever and gentlemanly, but inexperienced, I proposed to interview inyself for him, which I did, asking myself what I thought of the country, and so on. A few evenings later I delivered a lecture. At midnight another reporter called to work it up. I was in bed, but I remembered how sorry I should have been when I was on a newspaper to have missed anything, so I called him in, and he sat down by my bedside and phonographed away, while I gave him the points. Well, as Dumas says of life in Naples, “It is 'sbirro' one day, and lazarone' the next," at one time sending forth interviewers and then being interviewed.-C. G. Leland: Journal. In the buff (tailors), stripped. In the cart (common), to be in the

cart, is to be defrauded, sorely

disappointed. Vide CART. In showing a photo, 'ris wise to reflect

That the girl may have no taste for art, So see that the cabinet's fairly correct, Or you may find yourself in the cart.

-Sporting Times. In the crook or click (tailors),

in the act of cutting. In the hole (printers). This term

is applied to a compositor when he is behind-hand in closing up his copy, and his companions that have taken subsequent copy await the closing-up of his portion, that the making-up

into pages may proceed. In the know (common), the ex

pression explains itself. Vide KNOW, IN THE.

Chance brought me into collision with an old friend who did a little in the dra matic line for one or two newspapers, and

who was generally supposed to be in the know, as to most things connected with metropolitan play-houses. - Town Talk. In the rags (tailors), in trouble,

disputing, or in disgrace. In the slash (tailors), fighting In the straw (common), said of married ladies when accouched. Hotten is wrong in saying this phrase is coarse in origin and metaphor, whatever it may be now. It is in reality very old, and dates back to the days when all beds were stuffed with straw. Even the highest and most exalted in position-Henry VIII., for example-lay upon straw, for Brand tells us that “there were directions for certain persons to examine every night the straw of the king's bed, that no daggers might be concealed

therein." In the swim. Hotten limits this

to being in a run of luck, or in a good swim, because anglers are in luck when they find a swim or "school” of fish. But of late the term is applied entirely to being what the French call “dans le mouvement" (slang equivalent, “dans le train "), in with the world, in the current excitements, speculations, ideas,

and interests of the age. In the wind (nautical), intoxi

cated. Intimate (American thieves), a

shirt. Into (popular), to be, walk, slip,

drop into, to attack one, fight

460

Into-Irishman's rise.

him. (American), short of, want. ing, as “ It was all right into a yard missing,” “I found the account correct into four cents.”

I thought I did pretty well deliverin' all the load into one box. Considerin' I'd come as nigh into losin' the hull cargo, I guessed it was pretty well. But when Zekiel Hill missed that box he was in an awful takin'. He swore a lot of oaths as long as a kite-string, and sent 'em ascending up to heaven like unto the same.-How Silas Greenstick got to Congress.

Inturn (American), the inside

track in a race, the advantage at a start.

Dis kinder tarrify Brer Rabbit, en he skasely know what he gwine to do; but bimeby he study ter hissef dat de man w'at see Brer Fox fuss wuz boun' ter have de inturn.-Uncle Remus.

Don't care if I do.
Well, I will
I'm thar!
Accepted, unconditionally.
Well, I don't mind.
Sir, your most.
Sir, your utmost.
You do me proud!
Yes, sir-ree!
With you, yes !
Anything to oblige.
On time.
I'm with you.
Count me in.
I subscribe.
-C. Leland Harrison : MS.

Americanisms. I. P. (legal), a corruption of in personam, an expression very common among the Old Bailey barristers. It is a defence from the prisoner or his friends given direct to counsel without the

intervention of a solicitor. Irish cockney (popular), a child

born of Irish parents in any part of the southern counties of England (Hotten). “You're Irish !” is a common phrase when a child or person is say. ing something not quite intel. ligible to the listener.

Invitations to drink (American).

The following expressions are all stamped, endorsed, and approved in drinking circles :

Invitations.
What'll you have ?
Nominate your pizen!
Will you irrigate ?
Will you tod?
Wet your whistle ?
How'll you have it?
Let us stimulate !
Let's drive another nail !
What's your medicine ?
Willst du trinken?
Try a little anti-abstinence?
Swy (zwei) Lager !
Your whisky's waiting.
Will you try a smile ?
Will you take a nip?
Let's get there.
Try a little Indian ?
Suck some corn-juice?

Responses.
Here's into your face !
Here's how !
Here's at you!

Irish, Indian, Dutch (American),

all of these words are used to signifyanger or arousing temper. But to say that one has his “ Indian up," implies a great degree of vindictiveness, while Dutch wrath is stubborn but yielding to reason.

Irishman's harvest (coster

mongers), the orange season. Irishman's rise (tailors and com.

mon), wages reduced.

smile.” Of Mexican frontier

origin. Irrigate your canal (American).

This is becoming common in England as an invitation to take a drink.

Stumbling across a barrel of alc in the house, and feeling a little thirsty, Joseph thought he had found an excellent opportunity for irrigating his alimentary canal.-Sunday Times.

Isabella (rhyming slang), an um.

brella.

Irish theatre (military), a guard

room or lock-up in barracks. Iron (mechanics), bad iron, used

in reference to any bad affair,

failure of any kind. Ironclads, baked pies, so called

from the armour-plated consistencies of the outside crust. Of American origin. During the Civil War ironclad was applied to everything well defended or hard. An“ ironclad

hară. An ironclad oath.” A severely virtuous girl

was an ironclad. Iron cow, the pump; so called

by the milk dealers of London because it provides them with the water for what is some times called the stretchingthat is, the dilution and adul. teration of the milk which they supply to their defrauded

customers. Iron face (pidgin), stern, obdu

rate, cruel, severe; Cantonese, teel meen; Mandarin, t'ecaylayeen. “He makee my one ilon face, too-muchee bad heart he bab

I saw, I seen him (American), a

Western phrase implying agreement, harmony, or good fellowship. He was drunk, but I seen him all the same. “Come and have a drink," says I. --F. Francis : Saddle and Moccasin. I say (pidgin). “The Chinese mob used to call the English soldiers A'says or I says, from their frequent use of the expression. The French gamins used to do the same in Boulogne. At Amoy the Chinese used to call out after foreigners, Akee, akee ! a tradition from the Portuguese aqui, 'Here!' In Java the French are called by the natives Orang-deedong, i.e., the dites-donc people" (Anglo. Indian Glossary). It is not unusual for common people in England and America to call Frenchmen “ding-dongs" from the same words, and in the latter country boys cry after Germans Nix cum arouse ! and Wie gehts! and greet Italians as " Johnny Dagos" (vide Dago).

got.”

Iron making (popular), occupying

a berth or billet in which money

is to be put by. Ironsides (nautical), formerly a

sobriquet for favourite, veteran men-of-war, but latterly applied to iron and ironclad ships (Admiral Smyth). Irrigate, to (American), to drink,

to take liquor or refreshment; a synonymous expression is " to

I suppose (rhyming slang), the

nose. Itchland (popular), Scotland, alluding to the ailment caused by a diet of oatmeal.

Items (American thieves), in

gamblers' slang, looking at a party's hand and conveying to an opposition player by signs what it contains. A looking. glass is sometimes used, or else signs.

Is his giblets in? (American), is

he all right? From a coarse

story. Ishkim misk (tinkers), drunk;

Gaelic, misgeach.
I should smile (American). In

this phrase a strong accent is
laid on “should.” It comes
comes from such expressions
as “Well, I should think !”
which are often left incomplete,
but which when completed
would be “that he ought to
be ashamed,” or “that people
would know better,” &c. Its
general meaning is an intima.
tion of surprise, or mild con.
tempt. It is much used by
women, and is believed to have
originated in the suburbs of
Boston or in Brooklyn, New
York.
We asked Joe Capp the other day,

And asked it without guile,
“If asked to drink, what would you

say?"
He answered: “I should smile."

-Bird o' Freedom. Isle of Fling (east end), coat. . Isle of France (rhyming slang),

a dance. Istubbul (Anglo-Indian). “This

usual Hindu word for stable may naturally be imagined to be a corruption of the English word. But it is really the Arab istabl, though that no doubt came in old times from the Latin stabulum through some Byzantine Greek form” (Anglo-Indian Glossary).

It goes (American), it is all right

I agree with you, it is well. “Come into the ranch and have a drink, Sam," says I. “A drink goes," says he. It takes the gloss off (tailors),

it takes away the profit, or materially detracts from its value.

Ivories (popular), the teeth.

These ones object to learning lengthy parts; rehearsals bore them, and stage managers are notoriously anything but angels. One damsel possesses nice arms, another is blessed with a swan-like neck, a third rejoices in a set of lovely idories, and a fourth has a particularly neat ankle. -Modern Society.

" To flash your ivories," to show your teeth; "to wash your ivories," to drink. Also dice. (Billiards), the balls. “The irories run badly for him," the game is against him, or, he has no luck. (Card-players), checks and counters.

Promptly Murat placed by the side of Halsey's chips a column of irwries twice as high. It was a raise and up to the limit - Birdo Freedom.

Jumbaree (theatrical), jewellery. Jump (thieves), a window. Vide

BACK - JUMP. Used also in America and Australia.

Jump down (Canadian), the con

fines of civilisation. The idea involved is well put in the following quotation. We started for Brandon in the first train that would carry passengers to that new city, which in the September of 1881 was what is colonially known as the jums down, that is, the last place that is in course of erection on the outskirts of what is called civilised life, and upon leaving which you at once jump down into the open gulf of unsettledom.-A, Stazeley Hill: From Home to Home.

Juggins (sporting), an aspirant,

usually young, and always more
largely provided with money
than with brains. The lawful
and longed-for prey of the turf
sharper.

I never lured a juggins on
To pigeon or billiard match.

-Sporting Times. The appellation, which is of recent origin, is never regarded as complimentary. In common use, with the meaning of simpleton, fool; a form of jug. “Why don't he get the policeman," asked Peter, “who is standing there, to help him?"

“Because he is standing on the sove. reign, you juggins."

And a lifelong friendship was again disturbed.-Sporting Times. That's a motion, old man, you may carry, When Toffdom and Gladstone jine hands, And you may make a fair juggins of Harry.

-Punch. This term is also used in America. I'm not such a juggins as I look, my

friends, Though I may be soft and balmy; They tell me I'm a goose, and all my

tiles are loose, But there's bigger fools than me in the army.

-Broadside Ballad. Jug loops (popular), explained by

quotation.

Even the hair and whiskers of the cos. termongers, like that of more civilised folk. used to be governed by fashion. Sometimes jug loops (the hair brought straight on to the temples, and turned under) would be the rage, another season "terrier crop' would be the style. – Greenwood : The Little Ragamuffins. Jūkalo, jācko (gypsy), a dog.

Jumped-up (popular), conceited,

arrogant (Hotten). Jumper (popular), short smock

frock worn by labourers, navries, &c. Also a short external duckfrock worn by sail-makers, arti. ficers, and riggers to preserve the clothing beneath. (Ame. rican), a rude sleigh made of saplings, or rough poles, with the ends turned up. They cost very little, but are very useful. (Military), white canvas frock worn by the men at gun-drill. Also patrol jacket worn by gunners. Jumpers (American thieves), men

that rob houses by entering

windows. Jumping a claim (American), ob.

taining anything by fraud or stratagem. Originally a Western expression, signifying an attempt to oust a squatter or

his share of the work, and many a time the awkward, spiteful, or half-drunken have knocked it over, not jumping high enough, and so finished the performance.

settler on new country, such having by law and custom a first claim on the land. It has now

come into general use. Jumping Moses ! (popular), an

exclamation, probably of Ameri.

can origin. Jumping off (turf), one of the

earliest and most important accomplishments with which a two-year-old can be indoctrin. ated. In these days of short distance races, a horse which has not been taught to “jump off," i.e., to begin at a high rate of speed, has but a poor chance with those properly instructed in the art. Therefore, as soon as a colt's education has so far progressed that he has learnt to obey the touch of the rider's hand as to walking, trotting, or cantering, his lessons in jumping off begin. He soon learns how to use his muscles for a sudden spring, and becomes as quick on his legs as a cat.

Jumping up (tailors), getting the

best of one, or the reverse. Jump off (American). This phrase

is thus explained. Now and again the broad stem of a fallen giant gives you 150 feet of splendid wooden road; but arrived at the end, you find you have been gradually ascending and now stand on what the Americans would call a jump off, with a mass of brush below you, hiding in all probability a collection of lop, or a pitfall which, coming at the bottom of such a jump, would end your ramble for that day.-- Phillipps. Wolley: Trottings of a Tenderfoot. Jumps (popular), to have the

jumps, the delirium tremens ; also used in the sense of a craze, as “He's got the Jubilee jumps," he's gone crazed about the Jubilee. “Now then, first boy, tell me what beer is made from."

“Hops." "How do you know that?" "'Cos it gives you the jumps." He went down to the bottom of the class, but there is a bright future before him, nevertheless.-Sporting Times. Jump the game, to (American).

In gambling or poker slang to raid a gambling den by the police (C. Leland Harrison's MS. Collection of American

isms). Jump, to, to cheat, to steal. This word is used in England, but is more common in the United States. During the great civil

Jumping over the fat pot (thea

trical), a stipulation made in the days gone by, that all engaged should assist (as the music in Macbeth, Pizarro, Rob Roy, Dance in Honeymoon, God save the Queen, &c.) in the old-fashioned pantomime Man in the Moon (now called the Shadow Pantomime). When gas even was not convenient (Richard. son's show), the light was got by a large flame of burning fat, behind the sheet, and all, each and every one, had to contribute

The word is still used by the lowest classes in London, in America, and Australia, among whom “to jump a crib" signifies to rob a house ; and “to jump a bloke” signifies either to cheat him, violently plunder him, ill. treat, or seize. Anyhow, Doe Gilpin, the marshal, jumped him. I was right there when they met.-F. Francis : Saddle and Moccasin.

war it obtained great currency in connection with the impudent frauds of the mercenary adventurers - mostly newly-arrived Irish immigrants — who enlisted in the Federal armies for the conquest of the South, and received large sums as bounty-money, varying from two hundred and fifty to a thousand dollars, according to the needs of the State, and deserted within a few days after receiving it, and played the same game in a distant city, sometimes repeating the process as many as half-a-dozen or a dozen times. These evaders were called “bounty jumpers." To jump a claim, in the partially. settled districts of the great West, is to fraudulently attempt to dispossess a squatter who has the right of occupancy from having first settled upon the land. One morning his rich “claim,” of which the fame had spread, was jumped-two men had literally jumped into his pit, and he found them there when he came.-H. L. Williams: In the Wild West.

The word was used by Shak. speare in the famous passage wherein Macbeth communes with himself on the expediency of murdering Duncan (Macbeth, Act i., sc. 7).

“If the assassination Could trammel up the consequence, and

catch, With his surcease, success; that but this

blow Might be the be-all and the end-all here, But here, upon this bank and shoal of

time, We'd jump the life to come."

“Sauter" is used in French in the same sense _“faire le saut d'une chose, est voler, ou escamoter une chose.”

(Cape settlers), to jump, to steal. An English officer camping out was told to take care they did not jump his candle. stick. (Australian popular), to supplant in, to take. The dif. ference between jump and "shake" is that “shake” im. plies stealing, and jump does not. A thief “shakes " your watch; but if you take a seat in a rail. way-carriage, or on a coach that is engaged by some one else, you are only jumping it. It was a joke against a crustacean bachelor, an editor of a wellknown journal in a Murray township, that he had jumped a baby, the fact being that in the year of the great flood a baby, alive and kicking, and enshrined in a gin-case, had been deposited by the waters on the verandah-roof just under his bedroom window.

(Medical), to try a dangerous medicine.

Jump-up-behind-Kanits.

485

Jump-up-behind, to (common), to

endorse an accommodation bill (Hotten).

Junk dealer (American), one who

sells marine and old stores.

B. M. Koppler, a junk dealer, was arrested by Officer Rice yesterday, charged with stealing lead-pipe.--St. Louis Re. publican.

Junketting (nautical), good cheer

and jollification; from a pro

vincialism. Junkit, to (Winchester College), to rejoice over. “Junkit over you" is not a very charitable way of saying, I would not be in your place. Junkit is from a provincialism meaning a merrymaking.

Jurk, jark (old cant), a seal.

Still current among thieves in

America. Just what you're doing (Ameri.

can), a peculiar expression, often used in conversation, meaning that the subject in hand is of importance. “When you have a horse like that in hand you can't attend to any. thing else but just what you're doing.” This was accidentally overheard at the Langham Hotel, London. Put all your dynamite into just what you're a doing, whatever you do, and you'll do I-Washington Courier. Jūva, commonly juvo (gypsy), a

wife, woman. Properly a young woman (Persian jūva). Juwaub (Anglo-Indian), a refusal,

literally in Hindostanian answer. If a gentleman proposes to a lady, and is refused, he is said to be juwaubed.

Juries (costermongers), assertions,

professions. “We deals fair to all that's fair to us—and that's more than many a tradesman does, for all their juries.”

a vessel “keel up." “ To go
up the spout," "to be dead
broke,” “to be stumped,” are
some of the innumerable syno-
nymous expressions for the same
idea. The expression is com-
mon in America.
He goes swarming along like the devil,

With a cut-water ol er the bay;
But though now he is perfectly level,
You'll see him keel over some day.

-Song of a Swell. Keg (American), capacity to hold,

stomach.

I met him going along with his head down, like he was drunk. We'd been having a time, and my keg was pretty full too.-F. Francis: Saddle and Moccasin. Keen (American cadet), a humor

ous story, a joke.

Kanitseeno (back slang), a stink

ing one. Karibat (Anglo-Indian), food, lite

rally rice and curry. Karimption (American), a party,

a set of people, a crowd, implying unity, relationship, or nationality. As ption occurs as postfix to other words, e.g., “gumption,” “conniption," it may have been added in this case to the German-Hebrew word karim or krauwim (plural), relations, or the related.

A whole karimption of Dutch emigrants were landed here yesterday.-Bartlett : Cairo (Mlinois) Times. Kate (American thieves), a smart,

brazen - faced girl or woman.

Kat, Dutch slang, a bad woman. Katey (American thieves), a pick

lock. K.D. (printers), abbreviation of the words keep dark, i.e., “don't

say anything about it." Keel-hauling (common), a scold.

ing, accompanied by personal chastisement. From the old nautical custom of punishing offenders by throwing them overboard with a rope attached, and hauling them up from under the ship's keel. Not a blessed mag! Hes Sall Grab. ham been a krel-hauling of yer agen ?Savage London. Keel over, to (popular). People

are said to keel over when by some misfortune or other cause they come to grief in their undertakings or plans, as of

Keen on (common), intent on,

having great liking for, being

in love with. Keep a hotel, to (American), a

phrase intimating administrative capacity. It is almost universally expressed in the negative, “He can't keep a hotel." The origin of it was as follows. About twenty-five years ago a man named Lynch, banjo performer in a negro minstrel troupe, lost his overcoat in a hotel in Vicksburg, Mississippi. As the landlord refused to pay him for it, he revenged himself for a long time after by a humorous dialogue in which the land. lord was mentioned, and all his minor good qualities were faithfully enumerated, but which were neutralised by the other interlocutor, who drawled out,

“ Ya-as-but he ca-ant keep a ho-tel !" The expression is still

current. Keep a pig, to (Oxford), to have

a lodger. A man whose rooms contain two bedchambers has sometimes, when his college is full, to allow the use of one of them to a freshman, who is called under these circumstances a "pig." The original occupier is then said to keep a pig (Hotten).

Keep cave, to (Eton), explained

by quotation. Crib-fagging required two lower boys, for whilst one sat and read, another had to mount guard in the passage or on the staircase, to keep care, that is, to give warning by a whistle if he should descry our tutor on the prowl.-Brinsley Richards : Seven Years at Eton.

Cave is of course the Latin word.

they lose heart. Americans keep their eyes skinned, as they call it, to look out for other openings.-). A. Froude: The English in the West Indies. Keep your hair on. Vide HAIR. Keep your pecker up (common),

do not lose heart. Pecker is the mouth. From pecker, a bird's bill.

Each one is carefully guarded to the door by a policeman, and a voice may be heard crying out, Keep your pecker up, George, or 'Arry.—Diprose : London Life. Keep your weather eye lifting

(nautical), keep a sharp look

out. Keffel (American thieves), a horse.

From the German keppel. Kelter (thieves), money. Pro

bably from gelt. Vide GILT. Kemesa. Vide CAMESA. Ken (thieves), a place, house.

Nancy shall go to the ken, and fetch it to make all sure. -Dickens: Oliver Twist.

Also a bed. Trim a ken for the gentry cove.Disraeli: Venetia.

From khana, khan, gypsy and Oriental. This word generally has a prefix, as "boozing-ken,"

“speel-ken,” &c. Ken-cracker, or ken-miller

(thieves), a housebreaker. Kennedy (St. Giles), a blow on

the head inflicted with a poker, supposed to be derived from the name of a man who was killed in that manner, in an encounter among Irish roughs in one of the slums of London. Compare

Keep dark, to (English and Ame.

rican). Vide DARK. Keep sloom (tailors), keep quiet

(stockcutter's expression). Keep that dry (American), keep

that concealed, secret.

But don't let it enter into your heart. Never let them get a chance at your sentiment; keep that dry.-F. Francis : Saddle and Moccasin. Keep your eyes skinned (West

American), keep your eyes open, be watchful.

If you have any business to attend to, you'd best go right along and do it. k'cep your eyes skinned, of course, but don't stay home.-F. Francis: Saddle and Moccasin.

The English in the island cast in their lot with sugar, and if sugar is depressed

the expressions derived from proper names : to “burke,” to “ boycott," and the French “watriniser" (vide Barrère's

“Argot and Slang"). Kennurd (back slang), drunk. Kent rag (popular), a cotton

handkerchief.

Kettle (thieves), a watch ; red

kettle, gold watch.

Two red kettles a week will bring in about four pounds. This is better than getting three shillings a-day for slaving. Evening News.

(Nautical), iron or ironclad vessels.

It is not generally known that the three torpedo cruisers . . . have been in the contractors' hands for the past ten months. and that all kinds of expedients have been resorted to. ... The inexpressibly ludi. crous plan of applying "poultices" to their kettles is now being tested. -Society.

Kerb-stone broker (common), an

outsider, unofficial stockbroker.

Kerflop (American), another form

of " kerslap, kesouse, keslosh, keswosh, kewosh, keswollop,” and similar onomatopoetic words expressive of the falling of stones or the jumping of frogs into water.

It was a treat to hear him sling it blindly around, prefixing adjective after adjective to it as he did so, until with the accumulated weight and impulse, he at last brought the whole tautological string down kerflop, full and fairly, upon the devoted crown of his auditor.-F. Francis : Sad dle and Moccasin.

Kerr'b to, (tinker), to hit, strike,

punch. My name is Barney MacAfee, With my borers and jumpers (tinker's tools)

down to my thee (thigh), An' it's forty miles I've come to kerr'b yer pee (punch your face).

- Tinker's Song. Kerslap (American), a word ex

pressive of falling flat on the ground, straight onward, ahead.

Other people was sinful as they could be, but Shakers was all right. Shakers was all goin' kerslap to the Promist Land, and nobody wan't goin' to stand at the gate to bar 'em out, an if they did they'd git run over. - Artemus Ward : The Shakers.

Kettledrum (society), an after

noon tea-party. Kew (back slang), a week. Khana, khan, connah (Anglo

Indian), a place of residence,
or store-room, entertainment.
Vide BURRA KHANA.
There never was a burra khana given

yet in Ind Where some at the arrangement of the pairs were not chagrined.

-Aleph Cheem: Lays of Ind. Khubber (Anglo-Indian), news,

especially sporting news (Arabic, Persian, Hind., khabar).

There is pucka (good, real) khubber of a tiger this morning.-Anglo-Indian Glos. sary. Kibosh (English and Yiddish),

nonsense, rubbish, or humbug. Then he sez, "'Arry's always a Londoner."

Shows 'Arry aint no bad judge. “Wot the crokkerdile is to the Nile 'Arry

is to the Thames." Well, that's fudge. That's a ink-slinger's try on at patter.

Might jest as well call me a moke. Try another, young man; this is kibosh purtending to pass for a joke.

-Punch.

“ To put on the kibosh,” to run down, slander, degrade. To put the kibosh on anything is latterly to put an effectual stop or end to it. In this sense it is apparently derived from the Yiddish kabas, v.a., kabbasten, to restrain, suppress, hold, put a stop to. In the common pronunciation the word is often

sounded kābash. Kick (popular and thieves), a

pocket.

Our old friend ... says they are ruinous to the kick.—Bird o' Freedom. So I put on the hug, and then all in the

dark, I rified his kick of his shiners so fine.

-Greenwood: A Night in a Work

house.

Kick is probably an abbrevia. tion of kick-pocket (vide KICKS), like sky-pocket, short for sky. rocket. (Common), explained by quotation. The kick, or sixpence, at a hint, From Demos is withdrawn in haste.

-Funny Folks. In a kick, in a moment. (West American), a grudge. I haven't got any kick against Don Juan. He has treated us like a gentleman.-F. Francis : Saddle and Moccasin. Kickeraboo (West Indies), a cor

ruption of the expression to"kick

the bucket.” Vide BUCKET. Kicking at waist (tailors), an

unsightly fault at waist in a

coat, “out of balance." Kicking for the boot (tailors),

asking for money. Kicking for trade (tailors), apply.

ing for work.

Kicking strap (tailors), an elastic

strap inside a habit skirt. Kicks, kicksters, kicksies (popu

lar and thieves), breeches, trousers. From a metaphor similar to that which gave the synonymous “hams," " trolly

Wags.” Kick the bucket, to. Vide Buc

KET. Kick the stuffing out of one, to

(American), to ill-treat a per. son, or to take the wind out of another's sails; to get the better of one.

I am informed that, judged by the standard of success, the "ideal" newspaper is the one that whoops its own side to the top of the pole and kicks the stuffing out of the other fellow. – New York World. Kick, to (Australian popular),

an abbreviation for “kick the bucket,” or for “at his last

kick." Kick, to have the (sporting), to

have luck. From a football

phrase. Kick up (common), ceremony,

proceedings of a noisy nature. Were not Her Majesty's subjects from all ends of the earth coming to see the show, and take part in the kick up?Punch. Kick up a row, to (common), to

make or cause a disturbance. Charley dined, took his pen and sign'd; Then Mob kicked over his throne from

behind ! “Huzza ! Huzza! we may scamper now! For here we've kicked up a jolly good row!"

-Ingoldsby Legends.

Kid (popular, very common in

London), a swell, a masher. A Londoner meeting another very smartly dressed, says, “What a kid we are,” or the smartly dressed man might say, “ Ain't I an awful kid to-day?” The “dude" and the “masher” are really well-dressed people, the kid is rather a smartly dressed person; also a policeman. Every one of the urchins knows the School-board officer by instinct, and abhors him even more than their ancient terror, the bobby, copper, kid, or policeman.- Thor Fredur: Sketches from Shady Places.

A child. My eyes, what a row! Sally was asleep, the kids were asleep, slavey was asleep. Evening News.

“Served his time to the trade," returned the Badger coolly; “ been at it ever since he was a kid-so high."-). Greenwood: Dick Temple.

Kid, cheese; kid hard, synony. mous with “hard cheese," "hard lines," no luck.

(Popular and thieves), explained by quotation.

Now, one of these brother boys was well known for his kid, that is, gammon and devilry.--Hindley: Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack.

Possibly from Anglo-Saxon cydhan, to declare, make known; the primary meaning of kid being a pufting speech, termed now “kidment," more probably from "kidder,” a huckster, the patter of a huckster, and "gammon” being considered synonymous ; compare the German höken, to deceive, “gammon;" from höken, a huckster. Also deception, humbug.

I was not a little surprised, therefore, to hear one of them remark, in the unmis. takable language of a Cockney of the slums, that, in his opinion, it was all kid. ---). Greenwood: Tag, Rag, á Co. Kidd or kid (thieves), a swindler.

Vide Kid. He at once listened to the jargon of the well-dressed kidd, who hastened to explain that not being a smoker himself he did not know what to do with the magnificent lot of cigars that had just been left him.— Tit Bits. Kiddily (popular), fashionably. Kiddleywink (popular), a small

shop where are retailed the commodities of a village store. Originally a kiddle-a-wink, from the offer made, with a wink, to give you something out of the kiddle or kettle. In the West country, an ale-house. Also a woman of unsteady habits

(Hotten). Kiddy (popular and thieves), a

boy.

So take a caution, my kiddy.-Greenwood: The Little R’agamutins. Kiddy-ken (thieves), a house fre

quented by mere children, girls and boys. During the past two years the increase of profligacy among “kids” of both sexes has been very great. A house recently broken up (1887) in London, was habitually visited by boys and girls; two of the former, who were very well dressed, and who appeared to be gentlemen's sons, were only eight and ten years of age, while the girls were of corre

spondingly tender years. Kidlet, a boy or girl.

Kidment (popular), pufling speech

of a Cheap Jack, or others. Humbug, nonsense, deceit, de

ception. Vide KID. Kidney (Stock Exchange), a frac

tional part of one share. A corruption of a man's name Cad. ney, who is first known to have

dealt under 30. Kidney blow (pugilistic), a blow

planted in the short ribs, in the phraseology of the ring reporter.

Often a backhander. Kid, no (popular), no joke, seri.

ously. For derivation vide Kid. Oh, right you are, chummie! I'm single,

you bet, though I'm turned twenty

two, And I've 'ad lots o' chances, I tell yer ; fair 'ot 'uns, old man, and no kid.

-Punch. Kid on, to (popular), to incite. Kid oneself, to (popular), to fancy

oneself, to be conceited of a thing. One talks of a man kidding himself on his moustache, or a woman kidding herself on

her figure or her costume. Kid rig, or kid lay (thieves),

swindling, kidnapping, or rob.

bing children. Kidsman (thieves), one who trains

boy thieves. Kid, to (popular), to impose in

any way, pretend. Vide KID. Relating how he had kidded the workhouse authorities. - Greenwood: Seven Curses of London.

They've turned the gas out, and are kiading to play Nap just to make me think I've gone stone blind.-Bird o' Freedom.

(Turf), explained by quotation. What do you mean by kidding ?-It is a difficult word to explain. If you have got a good horse, and allow him to tumble about just as he pleases, and allow the reins to hang loose, the public would say that he was doing his best, but others might not think so. That would be kid. ding. ...

It all depends on the arms, then, as I understand it ?-Not necessarily. It may depend upon the legs, and all sorts of other things. Standard.

A kidding horse, a shamming horse, one which pretends to

be afraid, &c. Kil (gypsy), to play on an instrument, properly kel.

The boshomongro kils, he kils,
The tani rakli gils, she gils.

Now shoon the Romany gilli! 1.C., " The fiddler fiddles, the little girl sings. Now listen to the gypsy song !" -George Borrow: Lavengro. Kill-cow (popular), a great

boaster. Kill-devil (American), new rum.

The rum known as “New England," when new, is an appalling

beverage. Kill, dressed to (American). Vide

DRESSED TO KILL. Killed (tailors), hopelessly spoiled. Killock (nautical), given by Web

ster as a United States term for small anchor, but used in England with the meaning of

anchor. Also “mud-hook.” Kilt (Irish), well beaten.

Kilter (American). “Out of kilter

or keelter,” disordered, ill, out

Kindness (popular), a favour in

the way of enjoyment of the person granted by a woman to one of the other sex, or indeed, the other way. There is also a proverb of some standing“After kissing comes greater kindness," and in this sense the word is still in vulgar acceptance. The French have the ex. pression, "avoir des bontés pour un homme.”

of repair. Dutch keelterging, nausea, “provocation of the stomach;" kelderziek, crop-sick, &c. This is, however, a doubt. ful derivation. Possibly from to kilt, to tuck up; so that “out of kilter" would literally mean hanging loosely, hence disor

dered. Kinchen (popular and thieves), a

child. From the German kind.

chen. Kinchen morts (thieves), little

girls trained to prostitution. Kinchin cove (old cant), a man

who kidnaps children. Also a

little man. Kinchins' lay (thieves), explained

by quotation.

The kinchins . . . is the young children that's sent on errands by their mothers, with sixpences and shillings; and the lay is just to take their money away-they've always got it ready in their hands. Dickens : Oliver Twist. Kincob (Anglo-Indian), a term

which is becoming well known in England for gold-brocade. Persian-Hindu, kinkhwob. Formerly called khamkbā, and known in the Middle Ages to Europe as

camocca. Kinder (American), as it were,

in a manner, or after a fashion. Kinder-sorter (i pronounced as in kind), an old expression very common in New England. I guess I kinder heard o’that before, but I'm like my old man; I never was good at rememberin' names.--Boston Courier.

The term is from an English provincialism meaning rather.

Kingsman (costermongers), ex

plained by quotation.

It was the correct thing for the costermonger, whatever branch of industry he might pursue, to wear round his throatbunchy, loosely tied, and elegantly careless-a very large, highly-coloured silk pocket-handkerchief. This the costermon. ger calls a kingsman.-). Greenwood: The Little Ragamuffins. Kink (American), a fancy, caprice,

or crotchet.

The very newest kink, I take it, is a revival of the Louis XVI. fashion.-Chicago Tribune,

From an English provincialism. In Suffolk a rope is said to kink when it does not run out even from its coils.

Kip (popular and thieves), a bed.

This is probably an abbreviation of kipsy, basket. French thieves call a bed pagne, a corruption of “panier," basket. Kip had formerly the signification of house of ill-fame, and to “tatter a kip” signified to wreck one.

Kip house, a tramps' or vagrants'

lodging-house.

Kipsy (thieves), a basket.

“Wasn't there any clobber?" "Yes, there's a cartload.” So he said : “Go and get a kipsy full of it, and we will guy home."—Horsley : Jottings from Jail.

This word is given as a recognised term by a dictionary of the first part of the eighteenth century. The form kipe is still used as a provincialism for an osier-basket to catch fish. It has been suggested that kipsy is from the Old English or Norman English quipsure, in which case kipe would only be an abbreviation of the primary kipsy. But again kipe is traceable to the Anglo-Saxon cepan, to catch. It must further be noted that kipsy, sometimes kepsi, is gypsy for basket and a willow. Kipsikosh, willow wood, of Indian

origin. Kip, to (popular and thieves), to

sleep or lodge. Vide KIPSY.

Kiss-me-quick (common), a small

ladies' bonnet. Kiss, to (billiards), said of balls

in close contact. Kist o' whustles, Scotch Presby

terian for organ. Kit (popular), the whole kit of

them, synonymous with the “whole gridiron,” the “whole boiling," i.e., all the party. (Old), a dancing-master. From the kit or small fiddle which he uses in his avocations.

Kirkling (thieves), housebreaking

on Sunday evening by finding a house which has been left un. tenanted while the occupants are all at church (or kirk), or the servant left in charge en

ticed out. Kisky (popular), drunk. Kisser (popular), the mouth. Kisses (Stock Exchange), Hotch

kiss Ordnance Company Shares. Kissing-trap (popular), the mouth.

The off-side of his kissing-trap
Displays an ugly mark !

-Atkin: House Scraps.

Kit and boodle (American), the

total or whole of anything, as the entire company. Bartlett suggests the German beutel, a purse, as the original source of boodle, or “perhaps the old English bottel, a bundle.” But as it is a New York word its origin is to be sought in the Dutch boedel, pronounced boodle (which see), meaning property,

or anything inherited. Kitcheners (thieves), thieves who

congregate in places known as thieves' kitchens. Mr. Greenwood says that such meeting places for the dregs and outcasts of society-whose means of living is a mystery to every one but their intimate friends, and who are seldom seen abroad until the shades of evening have long since fallen-exist within three minutes' walk of the Strand and within two minutes' of Covent Garden - in Drury Lane in fact, or rather in some of the lanes and narrow thorough

fares leading out of that main thoroughfare into Great Queen

Street. Kitchenite (printers), a term of

contempt for the hands that frequent the kitchen of the Compositors' Society houseusually those on the provident fund, that prefer the small relief given to honest labour. This term does not apply to the genuine unemployed, but only

to the loafers. Kite (popular), a fool ; in French

buse is both kite and fool. (Common), fictitious commercial paper. To kite or fly a kite, to raise money on a fictitious bill. Here's bills plenty-long bills and short bills; but even the kites, which I can fly as well as any man, won't raise the money for me now.- Miss Edgeworth: Love and Law.

Evidently from an allusion to a kite, formerly termed a paper kite. Flying the kite is metaphorically putting a bill in cir. culation. In America fancy stocks are called kites, and to kite or skite means roaming from place to place, going about rest

lessly. We passed eberyting on de road-you

ought to seen us kitin', Golly! we had a gay old time when we went to Brighton.

-American Song. Kiting has also the signification of going about and speculating wildly.

The Duke of Cambridge has been play. ing havoc with the kitties, not the "kid. dies," as Vanity Fair has it. “The kit. ties," we explain to those of our readers who do not dine with dukes, is slang for the Scots Guards.— The Star. K legs (printers), a term of deri.

sion applied to a person with knocked - knees, or otherwise “shaky on the pins," owing to the legs being apart as in the

lower portion of a capital K. Klep (popular), a thief; to klep,

to steal. From kleptomania, the meaning of which is now well known to all the lower classes

who read the police news. Knacker (common), an old horse,

fit for the knacker. Knackers (Stock Exchange), Har.

rison, Barber & Company Shares. (Butchers, &c.), the testicles,

also “knuckers." Knapped an hot ’un (prize ring),

got a hard knock. Knapping-jigger (old cant), a

turnpike gate. Knap, to (thieves), to steal. From

to knap, to bite off, break short. Derived from the Dutch knappen, to bite, take, or catch hold of. (Popular), to catch, used in the phrase "Won't he knap it!" (Mountebanks and others), to knap the slap, to catch the slap of a lathe or board.

He got a board about the proper size, but too thick, and with it so bela boured the people on his concern that he laid some of them up, they not knowing how to knap the slap.-Hindley: Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack.

Kitties (military), the Scots

Guards are so nicknamed.

Knife-boards (London slang), the

long, narrow seats for passengers on the tops of omnibuses.

The antiquated knife-board has been all but abolished, and garden seats reign in its stead.—Daily Telegraph.

Knifish (tailors), spiteful.

Knob or nob (popular), the head;

one on the knob, a blow on the head.

Knobstick (popular), a phrase

among workmen to designate one who takes work secretly at home, when the men are on strike, and accepts lower pay than the regulation price demanded by his fellows. We need some measure calculated to completely restore prosperity to our industries, by means of a restrictive duty on the manufactured products of these knobsticks. -Evening News.

Knock down a cheque, to (up

country Australian). “A system known as knocking down one's cheque prevails all over the unsettled parts of Australia. That is to say, a man with a cheque, or a sum of money in bis possession, hands it over to the publican, and calls for drinks for himself and his friends, until the publican tells him he has drunk out his cheque. Of course he never gets a tithe of his money's worth in any shape or wayindeed the kindest thing a publican can possibly do is to re. fuse him any more liquor at a very early stage of the proceedings, for cheques for enormous amounts are frequently

knocked down' in this way. A quarter of the worth of them, if honestly drunk out in Bush liquor, would inevitably kill a whole regiment ” (Finch Hatton). When a shearer once determines, at the end of the season, to knock down his

Knock (turf), “to take the knock,"

to lose more money to the bookmakers than one can pay, and thus to be incapacitated from approaching the ring.